Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

RELEvancE tO pRObLEm GambLinG StudiES
The observation that some modes of gambling have an economic function similar
to saving prompts us to reflect on possible positive aspects of gambling and to keep
these in mind when judging gambling’s role in society. It is largely unknown to what
extent people in contemporary Western societies gamble because it is an alternative
to saving, making it possible for them to buy, once in a while, relatively expensive
goods, that their household budget does not allow for. Qualitative studies could
indicate if there is such an economic function of some modes of gambling. Survey
studies, including relevant questions on income and spending patterns, could show
whether this possible function has any notable influence on gambling involvement
and problem gambling.
The process utility of gambling
Currently, the “strong” and original version of the Friedman-Savage hypothesis or
the various theoretical developments of expected utility theory are seldom applied to
gambling, a rare example being a paper by Nyman [154]. The reason for this ought
to be that gambling as an economic activity cannot be explained to any greater
extent solely by the socio-economic motivation originally assumed by Friedman
and Savage. The “weak” and broader version of the hypothesis still has an intuitive
appeal, since it explains gambling as motivated by a wish for lifestyle improvement
in general. However, even this is seen by many economists as too limited an explanation
for people’s propensity to gamble.
Today, most economists with an interest in gambling acknowledge what their
earlier colleagues – for reasons of theoretical purity and orthodoxy – refrained from
including in their theories: that gambling has a utility value in itself [155–158]. People
gamble not only because they hope they can make money from it, but also – and
perhaps primarily – because the activity of gambling in itself is fun, exciting, stimulating
and interesting, and brings with it many other things that people appreciate.
In order to enjoy these things, people are prepared to pay, and they do so accepting
that in the long run participation in commercial gambling will almost certainly lead
to economic losses. The orthodox economic theory of gambling focused on the
expected consequences, in monetary terms, of participating in gambling; modern
economists prefer to focus on the process utility of gambling [156].
A theoretical economic model has shown that even a tiny utility of gambling,
appended to an expected utility model, adequately explains why people engage in
various forms of gambling [146]. Furthermore, acknowledging the process utility of
gambling makes it easier to understand the economic aspect of gambling behavior,
such as the determinants of lottery ticket sales [53] and patterns of betting on horse
races [159] or baseball games [160]. The assumption of process utility underlies
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