Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

However, several scholars have maintained that gambling in Western societies is
connected with existential issues and contains elements of a religious nature [263].
It has been argued, for instance, that gambling activates “a mystical state” [251p. 138 pp. 359-60 ], induces a “conscious mood of mysticism” [278 ], “possesses a metaphysical
and almost sacred meaning” [279p. 200 ], “encapsulates the area of mystery” [6p. 26 p. 35 ], establishes “a numinous connection” [264 ], provides an outlet for animistic
beliefs [61, 280] and “excites the deepest of all interest in life – that in the transcendent,
the dark obscure beyond” [281p. 406 ].
In a paper entitled Gambling and Religion: Histories of Concord and Conflict,
the present author [263] presents a theoretical model for how to understand these
diverse relationships between gambling and religion in various societies and at various
times in history:
It is argued that gambling and religion have certain elements in common: notions
of the unknown, mystery, and fate, as well as imagery of suddenly receiving something
of great value that changes life for the better. In many traditional cultures
gambling has existed in concord with polytheistic and animistic religion; gambling
and religion go well together precisely because of the elements they have in common.
Monotheistic religions that claim authority in religious and transcendental matters,
however, tend to denounce gambling and this disapproval has been fueled by a conception
that gambling offers a wicked alternative to certain religious notions and
experiences. The elements that gambling and religion share have thus become a
source of conflict (p. 145).
Thus, in contemporary, secular Western societies, gambling is to some extent motivated
by an interest in matters of an existential and religious nature. The present
author has explored how such an interest structures the content of Swedish newspaper
articles on jackpot winners [44]. In a study of a large sample of such articles
(about 2000 items), four cultural topics were identified: wealth as a test of morals
and character, the social impact of wealth, the just and good world, and luck and
the occult. It was concluded that, by providing a discursive realm for existential and
moral issues, narratives of jackpot wins to some extent fill a void left by the decline
of traditional religion and folklore. This can be assumed to stimulate the interest in
lotteries and other games of chance.
In the words of the American play theorist Brian Sutton-Smith [254], “games
of chance and gambling are … basically a kind of religious effort to deal with fate,
a kind of existential optimism” (p. 72). Gambling has of course other aspects as
well, but as the late Gordon Moody, Minister of the Methodist British Church and
engaged in problem gambling issues, remarked [282]: “the roots of gambling do lie
deep in our general human experience” (p. 50).
48 G A M B L I N G M O T I VAT I O N A N D I N V O LV E M E N T