IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bai/series/series_wp_01-2021.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Risk awareness and complexity in students' gambling

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Coco

    (Università degli Studi di Firenze)

  • Daniele Di Simone

    (Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")

  • Laura Serlenga

    (Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro")

  • Sabrina Molinaro

    (Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)

Abstract

Gambling is widespread among teenagers, requiring intervention to protect especially problem gamblers. The primary aim of the present study is to understand whether young problem gamblers are aware of the economic risks associated with gambling. Secondly, we introduce two gambling indicators that are new in the literature and are useful to public policy assessment: a measure of popularity of different gambling products in Italy and a gambling-pattern index. We analyzed 4025 students aged 15 to 19 years in a large-scale survey from the ESPAD®_Italia 2018 project (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs). An Ordinal Logit Regression is applied considering the SOGS-RA problem gambling indicator together with socio-behavioural sphere, gambling context and family related variables and a specific indicator pertinent to economic risk perception. The gambling context variables have been created using the bipartite network and complexity measures defined by Hidalgo-Haussman (2009), considering the number of games played by each student and how popular these gambling products are among the players. The results show that problem gamblers are aware of the economic risks associated with gambling, and at the same time tend to play more games and more unpopular games than non-problem gamblers. The likely effectiveness of different policies is discussed in the light of this evidence.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Coco & Daniele Di Simone & Laura Serlenga & Sabrina Molinaro, 2021. "Risk awareness and complexity in students' gambling," SERIES 01-2021, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised May 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:bai:series:series_wp_01-2021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.seriesworkingpapers.it/RePEc/bai/series/SERIES_WP_01-2021.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(1), pages 99-118.
    2. Enrico Diecidue & Ulrich Schmidt & Peter P. Wakker, 2004. "The Utility of Gambling Reconsidered," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 241-259, December.
    3. Michael Kirchler & David Andersson & Caroline Bonn & Magnus Johannesson & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Matthias Stefan & Gustav Tinghög & Daniel Västfjäll, 2017. "The effect of fast and slow decisions on risk taking," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 37-59, February.
    4. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    5. repec:cup:judgdm:v:1:y:2006:i::p:1-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Stella Sau-kuen Wong & Sandra Kit-man Tsang, 2012. "Development and validation of the Chinese adolescent gambling expectancy scale," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 309-329, March.
    7. Kevin Harrigan & Vance MacLaren & Dan Brown & Mike J. Dixon & Charles Livingstone, 2014. "Games of chance or masters of illusion: multiline slots design may promote cognitive distortions," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 301-317, August.
    8. Leonardo Becchetti & Davide Bellucci & Fiammetta Rossetti, 2018. "Gamblers, scratchers and their financial education," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(1), pages 127-162, April.
    9. Giuliano Resce & Raffaele Lagravinese & Elisa Benedetti & Sabrina Molinaro, 2019. "Income-related inequality in gambling: evidence from Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 1107-1131, December.
    10. Mark D. Griffiths & Michael Auer, 2015. "Research funding in gambling studies: some further observations," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 15-19, April.
    11. Grace M. Barnes & John W. Welte & Marie-Cecile O. Tidwell & Joseph H. Hoffman, 2015. "Gambling and substance use: co-occurrence among adults in a recent general population study in the United States," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 55-71, April.
    12. Fergus, S. & Zimmerman, M.A. & Caldwell, C.H., 2007. "Growth trajectories of sexual risk behavior in adolescence and young adulthood," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(6), pages 1096-1101.
    13. Michal Lewandowski, 2014. "Buying and selling price for risky lotteries and expected utility theory with gambling wealth," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 253-283, June.
    14. Weintraub, E Roy, 1999. "How Should We Write the History of Twentieth-Century Economics?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 139-152, Winter.
    15. Laurie Dickson & Jeffrey L. Derevensky & Rina Gupta, 2008. "Youth Gambling Problems: Examining Risk and Protective Factors," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 25-47, April.
    16. Pierre-Alexandre Balland, 2017. "Economic Geography in R: Introduction to the EconGeo package," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1709, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2017.
    17. Conlisk, John, 1993. "The Utility of Gambling," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 255-275, June.
    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. Brice Corgnet & Roberto Hernán González, 2023. "On The Appeal Of Complexity," Working Papers 2312, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    2. Lisa L. Posey & Vickie Bajtelsmit, 2017. "Insurance and Endogenous Bankruptcy Risk: When is it Rational to Choose Gambling, Insurance, and Potential Bankruptcy?," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 42(1), pages 15-40, March.
    3. R. Luce & C. Ng & A. Marley & János Aczél, 2008. "Utility of gambling II: risk, paradoxes, and data," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 36(2), pages 165-187, August.
    4. Pope, Robin & Selten, Reinhard & Kube, Sebastian, 2009. "Nominalist Heuristics and Economic Theory," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 17/2009, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    5. von Hagen, Jürgen & Kube, Sebastian & Kaiser, Johannes & Selten, Reinhard & Pope, Robin, 2006. "Prominent Numbers and Ratios in Exchange Rate Determination: Field and Laboratory Evidence," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 29/2006, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    6. Dieter F Kogler & Emil Evenhuis & Elisa Giuliani & Ron Martin & Elvira Uyarra & Ron Boschma, 2023. "Re-imagining evolutionary economic geography," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 373-390.
    7. Martin G. Kocher & David Schindler & Stefan T. Trautmann & Yilong Xu, 2019. "Risk, time pressure, and selection effects," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 22(1), pages 216-246, March.
    8. Abbasiharofteh, Milad & Kogler, Dieter F. & Lengyel, Balázs, 2023. "Atypical combinations of technologies in regional co-inventor networks," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 52(10), pages 1-1.
    9. Stefan Apostol & Eduardo Hernández-Rodríguez, 2023. "Digitalisation in European regions: Unravelling the impact of relatedness and complexity on digital technology adoption and productivity growth," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2317, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2023.
    10. Jason Deegan & Tom Broekel & Rune Dahl Fitjar, 2021. "Searching through the Haystack:The Relatedness and Complexity of Priorities in Smart Specialization Strategies," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 97(5), pages 497-520, October.
    11. Bąk Sylwia, 2020. "The problem of uncertainty and risk as a subject of research of the Nobel Prize Laureates in Economic Sciences," Journal of Economics and Management, Sciendo, vol. 39(1), pages 21-40, March.
    12. Barrafrem, Kinga & Hausfeld, Jan, 2020. "Tracing risky decisions for oneself and others: The role of intuition and deliberation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Carla Carolina Pérez-Hernández & Blanca Cecilia Salazar-Hernández & Jessica Mendoza-Moheno & Erika Cruz-Coria & Martín Aubert Hernández-Calzada, 2021. "Mapping the Green Product-Space in Mexico: From Capabilities to Green Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, January.
    14. R. Luce & C. Ng & A. Marley & János Aczél, 2008. "Utility of gambling I: entropy modified linear weighted utility," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 36(1), pages 1-33, July.
    15. Sebastian Lehmann, 2014. "Toward an Understanding of the BDM: Predictive Validity, Gambling Effects, and Risk Attitude," FEMM Working Papers 150001, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    16. Bose, Bijetri & Rabotyagov, Sergey, 2018. "Provision of public goods using a combination of lottery and a provision point," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 99-115.
    17. F. Colozza & R. Boschma & A. Morrison & C. Pietrobelli, 2021. "The importance of global value chains and regional capabilities for the economic complexity of EU-regions," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2139, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2021.
    18. Vivarelli, Marco, 2014. "Structural Change and Innovation as Exit Strategies from the Middle Income Trap," IZA Discussion Papers 8148, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Andres Gomez-Lievano & Michail Fragkias, 2024. "The benefits and costs of agglomeration: insights from economics and complexity," Papers 2404.13178, arXiv.org.
    20. Eduardo Hernandez-Rodriguez & Ron Boschma & Andrea Morrison & Xianjia Ye, 2023. "Functional upgrading and downgrading in global value chains: Evidence from EU regions using a relatedness/complexity framework," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2316, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2023.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gambling risks; Risk awareness; Complexity; Network analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:bai:series:series_wp_01-2021. 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: Annalisa Vinella (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debarit.html .

    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.