IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0277972.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experiencing a significant win and its sociodemographic and motivational predictors: A comparative analysis of pure-chance gamblers from Poland and France

Author

Listed:
  • Bernadeta Lelonek-Kuleta
  • Rafał P Bartczuk
  • Marie-Line Tovar
  • Emmanuel Benoit
  • Jean-Michel Costes

Abstract

Research on the relationship between wins and gambling behavior often focuses on winning considerably large amounts of money. It seems, however, that it is not the amount of the win, but the significance that the player assigns to the win, that exerts a decisive influence on gambling behavior. Therefore, in this study we adopted the concept of significant win: a win perceived by gamblers as important to them. The research aimed to discover what kind of wins are experienced as significant and what factors explain experiencing wins as significant. This study, conducted in Poland (N = 3,143) and France (N = 5,692), also had a comparative goal: discovering intercultural differences in experiencing significant wins. A computer-assisted web survey was administered to gamblers who engaged in pure-chance gambling, where the participant does not influence the outcome of the gamble after the initial bet is placed—selected from representative samples in both countries. We used logistic regression models to examine predictors of significant win experience in both countries and the differences between the countries. The results demonstrated that Polish gamblers more frequently considered a win significant when it was accompanied by strong, often negative emotions and was higher in monetary value normalized in terms of average monthly personal income, than French gamblers. French gamblers more frequently associated a significant win with a positive experience. The common predictors of a significant win experience in both countries were: being in debt, experiencing the win of a close person, gambling in a game of pure chance other than lotteries, more systematic pursuit of gambling, self-enhancement motivation, and coping motivation to gamble. Age at initiation into gambling was a significant predictor only in the French sample, whereas a financial motivation was a significant predictor in the Polish one. The results confirmed that the subjective perception of gambling wins is only partially related to the amounts of wins, which has practical implications for planning prevention strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernadeta Lelonek-Kuleta & Rafał P Bartczuk & Marie-Line Tovar & Emmanuel Benoit & Jean-Michel Costes, 2022. "Experiencing a significant win and its sociodemographic and motivational predictors: A comparative analysis of pure-chance gamblers from Poland and France," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0277972
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0277972
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0277972
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0277972&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0277972?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Money and mental wellbeing: A longitudinal study of medium-sized lottery wins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-60, January.
    2. Ole Bjerg, 2010. "Problem gambling in poker: money, rationality and control in a skill-based social game," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 239-254, December.
    3. Candice Jensen & Mike J. Dixon & Kevin A. Harrigan & Emily Sheepy & Jonathan A. Fugelsang & Michelle Jarick, 2013. "Misinterpreting 'winning' in multiline slot machine games," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 112-126, April.
    4. Jim Orford & Heather Wardle & Mark Griffiths, 2013. "What proportion of gambling is problem gambling? Estimates from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 4-18, April.
    5. Sumit Agarwal & Vyacheslav Mikhed & Barry Scholnick, 2018. "Does the Relative Income of Peers Cause Financial Distress? Evidence from Lottery Winners and Neighboring Bankruptcies," Working Papers 18-16, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    6. Gaëtan Devos & Gaëlle Challet-Bouju & Jonathan Burnay & Pierre Maurage & Marie Grall-Bronnec & Joël Billieux, 2017. "Adaptation and validation of the Gambling Motives Questionnaire-Financial (GMQ-F) in a sample of French-speaking gamblers," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 87-101, January.
    7. Nigel E. Turner & Umesh Jain & Warren Spence & Masood Zangeneh, 2008. "Pathways to Pathological Gambling: Component Analysis of Variables Related to Pathological Gambling," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 281-298, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robin Maximilian Stetzka & Stefan Winter, 2023. "How rational is gambling?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1432-1488, September.
    2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
    3. De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel & Oswald, Andrew J., 2012. "Estimating the influence of life satisfaction and positive affect on later income using sibling fixed-effects," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51523, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Andrew E. Clark, 2018. "Four Decades of the Economics of Happiness: Where Next?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 245-269, June.
    5. Clémentine Garrouste & Mathilde Godard, 2016. "The lasting health impact of leaving school in a bad economy : Britons in the 1970s recession," Post-Print hal-01408637, HAL.
    6. Belloc, Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2023. "Effects of Lottery Wins on Household Labor Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 16327, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Binder, Martin & Coad, Alex, 2013. "“I'm afraid I have bad news for you…” Estimating the impact of different health impairments on subjective well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 155-167.
    8. Susanne Väth & Michael Kirk, 2014. "Do property rights and contract farming matter for rural development? Evidence from a large-scale investment in Ghana," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201416, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    9. Joan Costa‐Font & Cristina Vilaplana‐Prieto, 2025. "The Hidden Value of Adult Informal Care in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 791-812, April.
    10. Bucciol, Alessandro & Burro, Giovanni, 2022. "Is there a happiness premium for working in the public sector? Evidence from Italy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. David Forrest, 2013. "An Economic And Social Review Of Gambling In Great Britain," Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, University of Buckingham Press, vol. 7(3), pages 1-33.
    12. Xin Meng & Sen Xue, 2020. "Social networks and mental health outcomes: Chinese rural–urban migrant experience," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 155-195, January.
    13. Andrew E. Clark, 2016. "Adaptation and the Easterlin Paradox," Creative Economy, in: Toshiaki Tachibanaki (ed.), Advances in Happiness Research, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 75-94, Springer.
    14. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 81-94.
    15. McKay, Andy & Newell, Andrew T. & Rienzo, Cinzia, 2018. "Job Satisfaction among Young Workers in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Comparative Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 11380, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Tetsuya Tsurumi & Rintaro Yamaguchi & Kazuki Kagohashi & Shunsuke Managi, 2021. "Are Cognitive, Affective, and Eudaimonic Dimensions of Subjective Well-Being Differently Related to Consumption? Evidence from Japan," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 2499-2522, August.
    17. Markus Frölich & Martin Huber, 2017. "Direct and indirect treatment effects–causal chains and mediation analysis with instrumental variables," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 79(5), pages 1645-1666, November.
    18. Peter Kuhn & Peter Kooreman & Adriaan Soetevent & Arie Kapteyn, 2011. "The Effects of Lottery Prizes on Winners and Their Neighbors: Evidence from the Dutch Postcode Lottery," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2226-2247, August.
    19. Alloush, M., 2018. "Income, Psychological Well-being, and the Dynamics of Poverty: Evidence from South Africa," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274223, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Myck, Michał & Oczkowska, Monika & Kulati, Ellam, 2025. "Income and well-being in old age: The role of local contextual factors," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0277972. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.