Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

trekking, and various forms of gambling. These activities are in theory and often
in practice substitutable, bringing coherence to leisure studies: people have leisure
time and choose between various available activities. Leisure studies can thus be
described as the study of how people allocate limited time and money on structured
activities that are not mandatory but engaged in out of free will. These studies differ
from consumer studies in a broader sense, since the health effects of the activities are
often taken into account, as are the consequences for society as a whole of people
engaging in various leisure activities. Furthermore, while most consumer studies are
quantitative, leisure studies often use qualitative methods.
Since gambling is approached analytically as a leisure activity, some motivations
that people may have for gambling – professional gambling and pathological urges
– do not fall within the focus of interest. In leisure studies of gambling, it is often
pointed out that the leisure approach tells more about how and why people gamble
in general, than studies focused on problem gambling.
Leisure studies of gambling usually stress that individuals have multiple motivations
for spending time and money on gambling, that different forms of gambling
have different motivation profiles, and that certain groups of people are more
attracted to some forms of gambling than other forms [96, 98, 186–201]. The
motives revealed in the studies are – and naturally enough, since gambling is voluntarily
chosen by people from various other leisure activities perceived as enjoyable
and rewarding – that gambling offers positive experiences: having fun, meeting
other people, seeing new places (casinos), excitement, the chance of winning, the
intellectual stimulation of betting games, and having a break with the routine of
daily life. The list presented in a study of recreational casino gambling in the USA
[191] may be taken as an example of the motivations for gambling found:
1. Gambling as learning and evaluating
2. Gambling as a “rush”
3. Gambling as self-definition
4. Gambling as risk-taking
5. Gambling as cognitive self-classification
6. Gambling as emotional self-classification
7. Gambling as competing
8. Gambling as communing
The leisure perspective rests on the assumption, outlined above, that gambling has
in an economic sense a process utility. People do not normally believe that they will,
in the long run, earn money by gambling. They know that they are likely to lose, but
gamble nevertheless because they are willing to pay a price for the enjoyment and
experiences they get. While the “pure” economic approach explores the utility values
and functions of gambling participation more abstractly, leisure studies focus on
the motives for gambling and the choice to gamble rather than participate in other
leisure activities. This perspective is present also in a number of cultural studies, to
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