Gambling Motives in a Representative Swedish Sample of Risk Gamblers

Motives for gambling have been shown to be associated with gambling involvement, and hence important in the understanding of the etiology of problem gambling. The aim of this study was to describe differences in gambling motives in different subgroups of lifetime risk gamblers, categorized by: age, gender, alcohol- and drug habits and type of game preferred, when considering the level of risk gambling. A random Swedish sample (n = 19,530) was screened for risk gambling, using the Lie/Bet questionnaire. The study sample (n = 257) consisted of the respondents screening positive on Lie/Bet and completing a postal questionnaire about gambling and motives for gambling (measured with the NODS-PERC and the RGQ respectively). When considering the level of risk gambling, motives for gambling were not associated with gender, whereas younger persons gambled for the challenge more often than did older participants. Card/Casino and Sport gamblers played to a greater extent for social and challenge reasons then did Lotto/Bingo-gamblers. EGM-gamblers played more for coping reasons than did Lotto/Bingo gamblers. However, this association turned non-significant when considering the level of risk gambling. Moderate risk gamblers played for the challenge and coping reasons to a greater extent than low risk gamblers motives for gambling differ across subgroups of preferred game and between gamblers with low and moderate risk. The level of risk gambling is intertwined with motives for gambling and should be considered when examining gambling reasons.     

The New Zealand national survey of problem and pathological gambling

In New Zealand, awareness of gambling-related problems has increased in association with the legalization of new forms of gambling. This paper presents the methods and selected results from a national survey of gambling and problem gambling completed in New Zealand in 1991. While the primary aim of the study was to determine the extent of problem gambling in New Zealand, the study included a second phase intended to assess the validity and reliability of the widely-used South Oaks Gambling Screen as well as to examine other aspects of problematic involvement in gambling. The results of the two-phase study in New Zealand show that problem gamblers in different countries are remarkably similar in demographic terms as well as with regard to other risk factors associated with problematic gambling involvement. The New Zealand study of problem gambling points the way toward important research topics that will require further exploration in the future.This research was funded by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs and by the US National Institute of Mental Health (MH-44295).     

Gambling and Alcohol Use: Trends in the State of New Mexico from 1996–1998

Alcohol consumption and its relationship to gambling was examined in a statewide New Mexico survey in 1996 and 1998. Data regarding both drinking habits and gambling behavior were obtained from a stratified random sample of the adult population (N = 2674) across the entire State of New Mexico via phone survey. These surveys were carried out shortly after a period when New Mexico experienced an initial surge in the legalized gaming industry. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents reported drinking in the past month, while 43.1% reported no drinking in the past 30 days. Results show that while the number of days in the past 30 that a person drinks is significantly correlated with some types of gambling behavior (e.g., in 1998, drinking more days was associated with more card gambling and sports gambling), it is the amount of alcohol consumed per occasion that is associated with more gambling behavior. For example, in both 1996 and 1998, drinking more per occasion was associated with more sports betting, dice gambling, number/lottery gambling, gambling using machines, and paper game gambling (e.g., pull tabs, punchboard). These results suggest that problem gambling behavior is not affected as much by the number of occasions on which one consumes alcohol, as by the amount of alcohol consumed per occasion.     

Where Lies the Harm in Lottery Gambling? A Portrait of Gambling Practices and Associated Problems

Lotteries are one of the most prevalent forms of gambling and generate substantial state revenues. They are also argued to be one of the least harmful forms of gambling. This paper is one of the first to examine exclusive lottery gamblers and compares their gambling patterns and problems as well other associated risky behaviours to those who are not exclusive lottery gamblers. Data were derived from two large surveys conducted with representative adult samples in France (n?=?15,635) and Québec (n?=?23,896). Participants were separated into two groups: exclusive lottery gamblers (ELGs) and non-exclusive lottery gamblers. Using multivariate analysis, study results reveal that ELGs, who represent two thirds of gamblers, generally exhibit less intensive gambling patterns and are less likely to report other risky behaviours. However, harms associated with moderate risk and problem gambling are found to be concentrated in specific subpopulations for both groups, primarily males, older individuals, and those who report lower income and education level. Given widespread participation in lotteries and concentration of harm within specific subgroups, these findings point to the need for prevention efforts despite the lower levels of harm associated with lottery gambling.     

Youth and internet addiction in China

Overcoming compulsive gambling: A self‐help guide using cognitive behavioral techniques Alex Blaszczynski Robinson, London, 1998

Pathological Gambling: The Making of a Medical Problem Brian Castellani NY: State University of New York, Albany, 2000

The Age of Chance ‐ Gambling in western culture Gerda Reith Routledge, London &; New York, 1999

Super Casino: Inside the “New” Las Vegas Pete Early Bantam Books, 2000

The Real Las Vegas: Life Beyond the Strip David Littlejohn (ed.) Oxford University Press, 1999

24/7: Living it Up and Doubling Down in the New Las Vegas Andres Martinez Villard Books, 1999

Spielsucht. Ursachen und Therapie. (Pathological Gambling. Causes and Therapies) G. Meyer &; M. Bachmann Springer, Berlin, 2000     

Further Evidence Concerning the Prevalence of Adolescent Gambling and Problem Gambling in Australia: A Study of the ACT

Abstract

This paper summarises the results of a cross-sectional study of 926 young people (years 7–12, age 11–19) attending State, independent and Catholic schools in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The aim of the study was to describe the prevalence of gambling and problem gambling among ACT adolescents and to obtain insights into the social context in which gambling was occurring. Survey results showed that 70% of adolescents had gambled in the previous 12 months and 10% at least weekly. Approximately 4% of adolescents could be described as problem gamblers based upon the DSM-IV-J classification with males and young people from indigenous backgrounds found to be more significantly affected. Most adolescent gambling in the ACT was undertaken either privately or conjunction with others (usually parents or peers), suggesting that existing regulatory provisions are working well. However, the paper nonetheless suggests the need for tighter controls over access to lottery products, greater consumer information in schools to educate young people about the risks of gambling, as well as additional ethnographic research to obtain further insights into how young people gain access to gambling opportunities.     

Near Miss,Gambler’s Fallacy and Entrapment: Their Influence on Lottery Gamblers in Thailand

Near miss, gambler’s fallacy and entrapment are hypothesized to influence gambling behavior but their individual impact on gambling behavior and their relationships have not been investigated. This study examines the direct and mediated effects of near miss, gambler’s fallacy and entrapment on lottery gambling among Thai lottery gamblers. Two groups of 200 lottery gamblers participated in the study. One group used superstitious methods to search for lottery numbers to bet, whereas the other group simply bought their tickets from lottery stalls. The superstitious group shows higher levels of near miss, gambler’s fallacy, entrapment and lottery gambling. Three models of relationships among near miss, gambler’s fallacy, entrapment and lottery gambling were constructed using LISREL program. The model that shows a direct effect of near miss, and one that shows a mediated effect of near miss fit the data equally. The results confirm a gambler’s fallacy and entrapment as starting points in the theory of cognitive psychology of lottery gambling and the generalization of near miss in gambling motivation.     

A Test of Social Cognitive Theory Reciprocal and Sequential Effects: Hope,Superstitious Belief and Environmental Factors among Lottery Gamblers in Thailand

This study tested social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) hypotheses of reciprocal and sequential effects among person, environment variables and behavior. The study examined the impact of hope, superstitious belief and environmental factors on the frequency, amounts of lottery gambling and chasing of particular numbers among Thai lottery gamblers. One hundred and fifty gamblers who visited two temples in Bangkok to search for number clues before buying tickets and 150 gamblers who simply bought lottery tickets from the stalls were recruited for the study. Models were constructed to test the effect of hope, superstitious belief and environmental factors on gambling behavior, and the reciprocal effect of gambling behavior on hope, superstitious belief and environmental factors. Results confirmed the theoretical reciprocal effects. A sequential effect model showing the effects of environmental factors on superstitious belief, hope and gambling behavior was also constructed and hope was found to be the result of superstitious belief. To reduce lottery gambling, the players need to be warned of their distorted hope and the small chance of winning lottery.     

Lottery participation by youth with gambling problems: are lottery tickets a gateway to other gambling venues?

The aim of the present study was to investigate the types of gambling activities youths with gambling problems participate in and whether the lottery is a key gambling venue for these young people. Secondly, we sought to ascertain whether youths with gambling problems display similar gambling behaviour with lottery tickets as those addicted to traditional forms of gambling. Participants were 1,072 young people, 10-18 years of age, in Ontario, Canada. Youths with gambling problems reported having a preference for lottery tickets compared to other forms of gambling. Differences were found for the frequency with which probable pathological gamblers reported going to the store specifically to purchase lottery tickets. Furthermore, probable pathological gamblers reported chasing their losses after having played the lottery more than the other gambling groups. This research demonstrates that youths with gambling problems gamble primarily with lottery products and exhibit similar pathological gambling behaviour (e.g., chasing) as those individuals addicted to other forms of gambling venues. Furthermore, the results suggest that lottery tickets are a potentially addictive activity that introduces youth to the exciting properties of gambling.     

Thirty Years of Lottery Public Health Research: Methodological Strategies and Trends

Cognitive measurement techniques, such as self-reports of behavior and reaction time measures, largely dominate the field of psychological research. It is uncommon for researchers to examine a phenomenon of interest by observing actual behavior within natural settings. To illustrate the existence of this methodological trend for gambling research, this article reviews systematically selected samples of the peer-reviewed literature related to lottery gambling in general and the literature related to pathological gambling and lottery more specifically. The results indicate that self-report surveys dominate the extant lottery literature, and experimental investigations of video lottery terminal gambling supplement those papers. This landscape encourages researchers to expand their methodological approaches to the study of lottery gambling. Currently, we know more about what research participants tell us they do with respect to lottery gambling than we do about their real-life lottery gambling behavior.     

The Prevalence and Types of Gambling Among Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in New York City

Objectives To examine the prevalence of gambling and types of gambling activities in a sample of undocumented Mexican immigrants. Design Non-probability cross-sectional design. Setting New York City. Sample The 431 respondents ranged in age from 18 to 80 (mean age 32), 69.7% were male. Results More than half (53.8%) reported gambling in their lifetime and of those most (43.9%) played scratch and win tickets or the lottery. In multivariate analyses men reported gambling more than women [2.13, 95% CI = (1.03, 4.38)]. The odds of gambling in their lifetime were higher among those reporting sending money to family or friends in the home country [2.65, 95% CI = 1.10, 6.38)], and those who reported 1–5 days as compared to no days of poor mental health in the past 30 days [2.44, 95% CI = 1.22, 4.89)]. Conversely, those who reported entering the U.S. to live after 1996 were less likely to report gambling [0.44, 95% CI = (0.22, 0.89)] as compared to those who had lived in the U.S. longer. Conclusion There is a need to further explore both the prevalence and the severity of gambling amongst the growing population of undocumented Mexican immigrants in the U.S.     

God,family and money: Pacific people and gambling in New Zealand

Pacific people living in New Zealand are less likely to participate in gambling activities than the general population but those who do gamble are at greater risk of being problem gamblers. This difference remains when socio-economic variables are controlled for. To date, little research has investigated the reasons underlying these differences. The present exploratory study investigated Pacific people's thoughts about gambling through a series of focus groups involving 97 participants, including Pacific gamblers, non-gamblers, gambling venue workers, gambling treatment providers and church leaders. The results suggest that some Pacific people draw a distinction between ‘community’ and ‘commercial’ types of gambling, that gambling is understood by some to be an easy way in which to make money, and also that familial and church obligations can motivate gambling behaviour. These findings inform possible unique features of gambling in Pacific cultures in New Zealand and internationally. Moreover, together with the research approach the results inform further research on Pacific peoples' relationship with gambling, as well as those of other cultural groups.     

Video lottery gambling: Effects on pathological gamblers seeking treatment in South Dakota

Fifty-eight pathological gamblers receiving treatment for addictive illness in two South Dakota hospitals were assessed for types of gambling and grouped into three categories; 15 video lottery only (VLO), 36 video lottery mixed (VLM), and 7 not video lottery (NVL). There were 51 male and 7 female respondents, with a mean age of 38.2. We hypothesized that video lottery would be the predominant type of gambling on several dimensions: level of recent activity, most money lost on one occasion, and number of DSM-IV criteria met. Of all gamblers, 87.9% had pathological involvement with video lottery. Video lottery gambling accounted for the highest level of recent activity. In the VLM group, video lottery gambling led to greater single-occasion monetary losses. In addition, significantly more DSM-IV criteria were met in the VLM group for video lottery gambling than for other forms of gambling these subjects had engaged in. Results indicate that video lottery gambling is the predominant type of gambling behavior engaged in by gamblers seeking treatment for addictive illness in South Dakota. We propose that these findings could be associated with the availability and stimulus differences between video lottery and other gambling types.The authors would like to thank Larry Atwood, Chemical Dependency Counselor at Keystone Treatment Center in Canton, S.D., for his assistance with data collection.     

Sociodemographic Correlates and Morbidity in Lottery Gamblers: Results from a Population Survey

The aim of the current study was to examine the socio-demographic correlates, the association of mental and physical illness, and the prevalence of pathological gambling among three groups (1) those with lottery gambling only (2) those with lottery and other types of gambling and (3) those with other types of gambling only—such as playing cards, sports betting, horse racing, casino gambling etc. Data was used from a nationwide cross-sectional epidemiological nationally representative survey of the resident (Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents) population in Singapore of 6616 Singaporean adults aged 18 years and older. All respondents were administered the South Oaks Gambling Screen to screen for pathological gambling. The diagnoses of mental disorders were established using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and relevant socio-demographic data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Lottery gambling was by far the most popular form of gambling in Singapore, with 83.5 % of those who had ever gambled indicating that they had participated in lottery gambling. Those who participated in lottery gambling alone were more likely to belong to the older age group (as compared to the 18–35 years age group), be of Indian ethnicity, have a secondary or vocational education, and earn a lower income as compared to the other two groups. Our findings that those with pure lottery gambling were significantly less likely to be pathological gamblers and had significantly lower odds of psychiatric and physical morbidity as compared to the other two groups are unique and need further research.     

Dimensions of Problem Gambling Behavior Associated with Purchasing Sports Lottery

The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the dimensions of problem gambling behaviors associated with purchasing sports lottery in China. This was accomplished through the development and validation of the Scale of Assessing Problem Gambling (SAPG). The SAPG was initially developed through a comprehensive qualitative research process. Research participants (N = 4,982) were Chinese residents who had purchased sports lottery tickets, who responded to a survey packet, representing a response rate of 91.4%. Data were split into two halves, one for conducting an EFA and the other for a CFA. A five-factor model with 19 items (Social Consequence, Financial Consequence, Harmful Behavior, Compulsive Disorder, and Depression Sign) showed good measurement properties to assess problem gambling of sports lottery consumers in China, including good fit to the data (RMSEA = 0.050, TLI = 0.978, and CFI = 0.922), convergent and discriminate validity, and reliability. Regression analyses revealed that except for Depression Sign, the SAPG factors were significantly (P < 0.05) predictive of purchase behaviors of sports lottery. This study represents an initial effort to understand the dimensions of problem gambling associated with Chinese sports lottery. The developed scale may be adopted by researchers and practitioners to examine problem gambling behaviors and develop effective prevention and intervention procedures based on tangible evidence.     

Lottery play and problem gambling

This study sought to determine if lottery play along with other possible causes engenders problem gambling. Problem gambling was defined as a progression and measured by three scales: Gambling behavior, loss of control over gambling and gambling consequences. Possible causes of problem gambling included lottery play, personality traits, exposure to gambling, leisure pursuits, marital status, residence, and other background characteristics of respondents. Respondents are a stratified random sample of adult residents of Iowa contacted by telephone in May–June, 1989. It was found that lottery play is a predictor of gambling behavior, as well as loss of control and gambling consequences when previous stages of problem gambling were deleted from the analysis as predictor variables. Other predictors of the latter stages of problem gambling include its earlier stages, as well as personality traits and various background characteristics of respondents. The relevance of the findings for theory and future research on gambling are discussed.This research was partially supported by the Iowa Department of Human Services. We also wish to acknowledge the helpful comments of reviewers from this journal.     

Gambling on the Lottery: Sociodemographic Correlates Across the Lifespan

Two representative U.S. telephone surveys of gambling were conducted—an adult survey of adults aged 18 years and older (n = 2,631) and a youth survey of young people aged 14–21 years old (n = 2,274). Because the questions and methods were the same or similar in both surveys, the data from these two surveys were combined into a single dataset to examine the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of gambling and problem gambling across the lifespan. The present work focused specifically on gambling on the lottery which is the most prevalent form of gambling in the U.S. The frequency of gambling on the lottery increased sharply from mid adolescence to age 18 which is the legal age to purchase lottery tickets in most states; lottery play continued to increase into the thirties when it leveled off and remained high through the sixties and then decreased among those 70 years and older. Considering multiple sociodemographic factors together in a negative binomial regression, the average number of days of lottery gambling was significantly predicted by male gender, age, neighborhood disadvantage and whether or not lottery was legal in the state where the respondent lived. These findings can be used to inform policies regarding lotteries in the U.S.     

Youth gambling in Melbourne's west: Changes between 1996 and 1998 for Anglo‐European background and Asian background school‐based youth 26

Abstract

In this study of gambling frequency and problem gambling in school‐based young people from the western suburbs of Melbourne, 710 students from Years 10, 11 and 12 were surveyed in 1996, and 776 students from the same years and from the same schools were surveyed in 1998. The mean age of both cohorts was 16.3 years. The major aim of the study was to assess changes in youth gambling patterns over this two‐year period. A second aim was to compare gambling patterns among Asian youth in comparison with their Anglo‐European counterparts. Results indicated that gambling frequency (including use of poker machines) had significantly reduced over the two‐year period, as had problem gambling. Contrary to the stereotype, young Asian background students were less likely to gamble than Anglo‐European students, spent less money on gambling, but paradoxically, scored higher on the problem gambling scale. Possible reasons for this anomalous finding were discussed.     

Button‐pressers versus picture‐makers: The social reconstruction of amateur photography in the late 19th century U.S.

Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research Method, New Mexico University Press, 1986, By John, Collier, Jr. and Malcom Collier

Snapshot Versions of Life, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987, By Richard Chalfen

Six‐Guns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western, University of California Press, 1975, By Will Wright, St. Lawrence University

Bitter Melon: Stories from the Last Rural Chinese Town in America, University of Washington Press, 1987, By Jeff Gillenkirk and James Motlow

Committing Photography ‐ Yes and No, But Mostly Yes. A Review Essay of Committing Photography, by Su Braden, Pluto Press, 1983

Sociology in a Changing World, by William Kornblum, Holt, Reinehart, and Winston, 1987     

Reviews

Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research Method, New Mexico University Press, 1986, By John, Collier, Jr. and Malcom Collier

Snapshot Versions of Life, Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987, By Richard Chalfen

Six‐Guns and Society: A Structural Study of the Western, University of California Press, 1975, By Will Wright, St. Lawrence University

Bitter Melon: Stories from the Last Rural Chinese Town in America, University of Washington Press, 1987, By Jeff Gillenkirk and James Motlow

Committing Photography ‐ Yes and No, But Mostly Yes. A Review Essay of Committing Photography, by Su Braden, Pluto Press, 1983

Sociology in a Changing World, by William Kornblum, Holt, Reinehart, and Winston, 1987