AbstractNowadays, online gambling has a great negative impact on the society. In order to study the effect of people’s psychological factors, anti-gambling policy, and social network topology on online gambling dynamics, a new SHGD (susceptible–hesitator–gambler–disclaimer) online gambling spreading model is proposed on scale-free networks. The spreading dynamics of online gambling is studied. The basic reproductive number $R_{0}$
R
0
is got and analyzed. The basic reproductive number $R_{0}$
R
0
is related to anti-gambling policy and the network topology. Then, gambling-free equilibrium $E_{0}$
E
0
and gambling-prevailing equilibrium $E_{ +} $
E
+
are obtained. The global stability of $E_{0}$
E
0
is analyzed. The global attractivity of $E_{ +} $
E
+
and the persistence of online gambling phenomenon are studied. Finally, the theoretical results are verified by some simulations.