Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

elieving themselves to be, or aspiring to become, professional gamblers poses some
interesting questions of definition. Are such individuals addicted to gambling or
just hard-working? Can their eventual monetary losses be viewed as investments to
further their experience and skill?
The issue of monetary losses is invariably discussed in the studies on gambling
subcultures. Since the perspective is sociological, large losses are not seen as the consequence
of pathological gambling behavior. Typically, losses are seen as the consequence
of inadequate money management and defective strategies of play [102,
115–117]. Rather than being subject to psychological treatment, the gambler who
loses much money should thus be educated in optimal playing and betting strategies
[108]. Several money management defects have been identified. “Going on tilt”
means that, because of some frustrating turn of events, the gambler loses control
and departs from sensible playing strategies [118]. “Bad beat” is a similar concept,
referring to the gambler suffering a series of unexplainable losses, which questions
his or her ability to play skillfully and triggers reckless and uncontrolled gambling
[117, 119].
RELEvancE tO pRObLEm GambLinG StudiES
The subculture studies highlight the importance of the social dimension of gambling
for explaining varying levels of involvement. Very high involvement, resulting in
huge monetary losses and a host of personal problems, can be convincingly explained
by social factors, rather than individual pathology. If the personality traits of
heavy gamblers are to be revealed in problem gambling studies, it is thus important
to distinguish the subculture gambler from the true pathological gambler whose
problems are essentially psychological. Bounded gambling settings with specific
subcultures also appeal to casual gamblers, who may experience them as interesting
and exciting. Spending time in such a setting, being a kind of tourist there, may be a
motive for participating in a specific form of gambling.
Geographical analyses
Sociological studies of gambling are often concerned with the social and demographic
characteristics of gamblers. If such characteristics are mapped in geographical
space, patterns of varying involvement in gambling, and perhaps also varying
modes of participation, emerge. One issue that can be investigated is how the availability
of gambling relates to such patterns.
There are at least three reasons why relations between the availability of gambling
and socio-economic variables in geographical space are to be expected. Firstly,
gambling is a multifaceted activity and the consumers of various forms of gambling
have specific demographic and socioeconomic profiles. For instance, bingo play-
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