“Tell me what you play and I will tell you who you are”: values and gambling habits in two Danish universities

Abstract

This article describes different gambling patterns found among students at a business school and at a faculty of social sciences in Copenhagen, Denmark. On the one hand, it was found that students who play games of skill (such as poker or betting on football or horses, etc.) tended to be male, studying business, investing in stock options and voting on the right of the political spectrum. On the other hand, students who played games of chance (lotto, bingo, etc.) were more likely to be female, studying social sciences, preferring savings rather than risky investments and voting on the left of the political spectrum. We suggest that the competitive aspect of games of skill is attractive to those who believe in rewarding individual risk in a competitive market, while the more egalitarian and impersonal nature of games of chances is preferred by people who place a stronger emphasis on social equity.

Keywords:

• games of chance
• games of skill
• gender
• studies
• political orientation

Acknowledgements

The data on which this article is based were collected by Astrid Marie Eliasson, Camilla El-Sayed, Camilla Sigvardt, Helle Boje, Line Richter, Lise Ryborg, Louise Vang Jensen, Morten Aarslev, Nikolaj Darre and Tabita Klenz. We would like to thank them for giving us permission to publish their results.