Gambling motivation and involvement: A review of social

eally mean? Does this type of problem gambler actually exist?”). On the other
hand, quantitative survey studies provide hard facts and figures that give perspective
to qualitative studies (i.e. “How common is this?”).
Quantitative studies dissemble the phenomena of gambling and problem gambling
into components that can be measured. This inevitably results in a loss of
authenticity and context. The problem gambler emerges as a bundle of risk factors,
cognitions, symptoms, and behaviors. Games appear as constellations of frequency
of bets, reinforcing mechanisms and other specific features. Qualitative studies tell
about real gamblers. They may tell how gambling problems may emerge during a
person’s life, how they fluctuate over time, and how different types of problems
relate to different forms of play. Qualitative studies also tell about actual gambling
environments, which are always perceived by people as more than the sum of their
components of game features. Some gambling settings, such as casinos and trotting
tracks, have their particular atmosphere and traditions, and it is the setting as a
whole, as a cultural realm of its own, which is the essential attraction.
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