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Gender and Gambling Behaviors: a Comprehensive Analysis of (Dis)Similarities

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Abstract

Gambling is a gendered activity. Yet, the majority of research focuses on males and treatment seeking/clinical populations—a population that is fundamentally distinct from and ungeneralizable to non-treatment seekers. The objective of this article is to tease out the characteristics that discriminate the subtypes of gambling behavior by gender based on a representative sample of a population. In 2013–2014, 9523 Massachusetts adults completed a survey examining their past year gambling behavior based on the Problem and Pathological Gambling Measure (PPGM). Unlike male at-risk gamblers, female at-risk gamblers are likely to play bingo and have anxiety and/or depression. Unlike female at-risk gamblers, male at-risk gamblers gamble to “feel good” about themselves. Unlike males, female problem/pathological gamblers are more likely to have a problem with drugs or alcohol in the past 12 months. Unlike females, male problem/pathological gamblers are more likely to have unhappier childhoods, gamble online, and identify as Hispanic. Demographic, health-related, and gambling-related discriminators are largely the same for female and male gambling subtype behaviors. There are, however, a few defining characteristics that differentiate females and males in terms of the likelihood of experiencing problematic gambling behavior.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center on Medical Product Access, Safety & Stewardship, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Danielle Venne

  2. School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 715 North Pleasant Street, 416 Arnold House, Amherst, MA, 01003-9304, USA

    Alissa Mazar & Rachel Volberg

Authors
  1. Danielle Venne
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  2. Alissa Mazar
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  3. Rachel Volberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alissa Mazar.

Ethics declarations

The survey protocol was reviewed and approved by NORC’s Institutional Review Board and by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Institutional Review Board. Reference number: 2013‐1695. Participants provided consent by voluntarily participating in the survey after being provided the following information: “The University of Massachusetts is conducting a study about health and recreational behavior in Massachusetts. This survey is private and confidential. We have a Federal Certificate of Confidentiality that is designed to protect the confidentiality of your research data from court order subpoena. We can provide you with more information if you would like. Taking part is up to you. You don’t have to answer any question you don’t want to, and you can stop at any time. Almost everyone will be able to finish the survey within 10‐15 minutes. If you have questions about the Federal Certificate of Confidentiality, please visit: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/cocs/faqs.htm#187.

Conflict of Interest

This research was conducted with financial support from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. This funding did not influence the study’s methodology, analyses, or interpretation of results. The authors declare that they have no competing interests: DV, AM, and RV.

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Venne, D., Mazar, A. & Volberg, R. Gender and Gambling Behaviors: a Comprehensive Analysis of (Dis)Similarities. Int J Ment Health Addiction 18, 1181–1195 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00116-y

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