Gambling motivation and involvement

Institute of Public Health Distribution Department SE-120 88 Stockholm Fax +46 8 4498811 [email protected] www.fhi.se R 2009:20 ISSN 1651-8624 ISBN 978-91-7257-661-2 R 20 0 9:20 This report reviews the academic literature on social, economic and cultural research on gambling. The objective is to sum up what the literature says about the motives people have for gambling and the factors that influence their degree of involvement in gambling. Suggestions are made as to the usefulness of this knowledge for studies on problem gambling, which often rely on medical concepts of excessive gambling as pathology. This review – citing 434 works – may thus be helpful to scholars, health practitioners and policy makers who deal with problem gambling issues, and of interest also to those with a more general desire to learn more about why people gamble.