Advances in digital technology contributed to an increased availability of digital games and problematic forms of gaming are an emerging area in addiction research. In the absence of routine treatment data, assessments of the
co-occurrence of gaming and substance use largely depend on self-reported survey data. This survey research varies with respect to the severity of the behavior (any use vs. problematic/pathological forms), and results are inconsistent for different substances, subgroups, and levels of gaming. Whereas there seems to be consensus that problem gaming is positively correlated with cigarette smoking, results on the association between gaming and alcohol use are inconsistent.