Gamblers are all different -- no, really.
According to study authors, “The typology presented fits with the view that people’s engagement in gambling exists along a spectrum rather than fitting into a simple dichotomy of non-problem and problem gambling.” In other words, not everyone that gambles is a problem gambler.
Additionally, the study reconfirmed what several surveys have also found: “The most salient theme in terms of factors influencing people’s experiences of gambling was the interaction between personal factors and social context.”
Study authors also reported a neat categorization of gambling types into four categories: the peripheral gambler, the gambling enthusiast, the business gambler, and the compulsive gambler. Of the 43 participants in this study, all culled from the 2007 survey, some 15 had been classified as “non-problem gamblers,” 17 as “at-risk gamblers,” and 11 as “problem gamblers.”
When survey results were combined with the study authors’ defined gaming categories (national lottery, bingo, scratch cards, slot machines, virtual machines, football pools/coupons, sports, horseracing/greyhounds, casinos, card games, and online gambling), the categorization helped emphasize the main point that gamblers come in various shapes ‘n’ sizes and that, in order to address the greater social questions of legalizing/regulating online gambling, this must first be accepted by Joe Q. Sixpack. Not to mention Joe Q. Public Servant…
The entire “Qualitative follow-up of the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007” can be downloaded as a PDF file here.