University Students ’ Reasons and Attitudes Towards Online Gambling and its Implication on Their Lives

This study employed an exploratory research design to investigate the reasons and attitudes of students toward online gambling and how online gambling has affected their social, economic, and academic lives on campus. An interview guide was used in soliciting data from fifteen participants. The thematic analytical framework was used to analyze the data. The analysis of the empirical data revealed that the ease of making quick money, the anonymous nature of online gambling and a source of entertainment were the main reasons why participants engaged in online gambling. Again, concerning participants ’ attitudes towards gambling, most of them were frequent gamblers and gambled four to seven times a week while a few were occasional gamblers who gambled one to three times a month. The study also found that participants who gambled online ended up becoming depressed, had difficulties with sleepin g, and barely concentrated in class because of their addictive attitudes towards online gambling. The study further revealed that the academic lives of participants were negatively affected as a result of excessive gambling. The study recommends that the university management should introduce univer sity gambling policies and programmes to regulate gambling among university students and its associated socio-economic and academic implications.
Source: Journal of Gambling Studies - Category: Addiction Source Type: research