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Journal of Gambling Studies
Published in: Journal of Gambling Studies 1/2018

Open Access 01-03-2018 | Original Paper

Understanding the Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Gambling Behavior

Author: Lisa Farrell

Published in: Journal of Gambling Studies | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between gambling behavior and subjective wellbeing. It is often asserted that populations consist of different types of gamblers: those for whom gambling is a harmless leisure activity and those (pathological/problem gamblers) for whom the activity has harmful effects. One might, therefore, assume that subjective wellbeing will be negativity associated with an individual’s level of gambling addiction. Alternatively, gamblers may choose to gamble because they derive utility from participating in this activity and so the relationship between happiness and gambling might be positively correlated. In this paper we test this association, empirically, using data from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. The statistically significant findings from this analysis support the hypothesis that individual wellbeing falls as gambling disorder increases.
Appendix
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Footnotes
1
The discussion in Hartley and Farrell (2002) critiques this expected utility plus fun framework in terms of the ad hoc nature of the fun component.
 
2
The terms ‘gambling addiction’, ‘compulsive gambling’ and ‘gambling disorder’ are often used interchangeably. We recognize that the psychology literature refers to the DSM-IV inventory as a gambling disorder scale, but the broader public health and gambling studies literature frequently uses the term ‘gambling addiction’ as opposed to ‘gambling disorder’. Further, the wider public policy and advocacy group material predominantly utilizes the term ‘addiction’.
 
3
Unpublished work by Forrest (using the same data as this paper) is summarized in Forrest (2013), which suggests that happiness and gambling are positively associated for non-gamblers (as opposed to recreational gamblers) and negatively associated for problem gamblers. However, given that the original work is unpublished it is not possible to verify these findings.
 
4
Previous cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2000 and 2007.
 
5
Details of the dichotomous scoring can be found in Table A2.9.2 of Wardle et al. (2011).
 
6
It is possible to use the non-dichotomized DSM-IV scores (ranging from 0 to 30) in the empirical analysis and the results are qualitatively the same.
 
7
An alternative estimator would be an ordered logit. In practice the ordered logit and ordered probit results rarely differ significantly. This is true in our case, and the results for the ordered logistic model are available from the author upon request. In the interests of comparability with the literature on subjective wellbeing, we choose to present the ordered probit results.
 
8
For completeness we have also rerun the analysis combining the top two categories for each addiction screen i.e. combining the at risk and the pathological gamblers in the case of the DSM-IV screen and combining the moderate gamblers with the problem gamblers in the case of the PGSI screen. The results are qualitatively the same and the papers main results are unchanged.
 
9
We also included indicator variables for being a smoker and/or a drinker, but these variables were not found to be statistically significant and so are not included in the final models presented here. This result may be due to collinearity between these variables and the DSM-IV scores arising from comorbidity.
 
10
We also tested the robustness of the findings to the inclusion of gambling expenditure, duration and frequency of participation but these variables were not found to be significant and so were dropped from the final versions of the models presented here.
 
11
Non-linearity was tested via the inclusion of a DSM-IV squared term. An alternative approach would be to use a log functional form but the high number of respondents recording a zero DSM-IV score means that this is not empirically sensible in this context.
 
12
While gamblers are categorized as abstainers and social gamblers if they record 0, 1, 2 or 3 on the DSM-IV scale, abstainers can only record a 0 by definition. Therefore, a score of 1 can only be recorded by a social gambler. Note, however, that social gamblers can also score 0.
 
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Metadata
Title
Understanding the Relationship Between Subjective Wellbeing and Gambling Behavior
Author
Lisa Farrell
Publication date
01-03-2018
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Gambling Studies / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3602
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-017-9692-4

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