Attitudes toward gambling in young people: a cross-national study of Australia, Canada, Croatia and Israel

ABSTRACT

Public attitudes toward gambling have important implications for people’s engagement in the activity and receptivity to regulatory reforms. Such views are likely, however, to be influenced by variations in market conditions, perceptions of regulations and personal exposure to gambling. This article examines whether differences in gambling attitudes are related to differences in the perceived social, cognitive, and physical accessibility of gambling in four countries (Australia, Israel, Croatia and Canada). These countries were selected because they cover a range of gambling regulations, from established liberalized markets (Australia, Canada), to a recently liberalized market (Croatia) to a relatively restricted market (Israel). University student respondents (n = 1787, aged 18–30) were surveyed in these four countries to control for educational differences. Within- gender analyses controlled for differences in gender profile across countries. More positive attitudes were associated with greater social accessibility and more stringent regulations. Australian and Canadian respondents reported more positive attitudes toward gambling and regulations. Israeli respondents reported less positive attitudes and exposure to problem gambling. Croatian respondents reported more positive attitudes, but considered gambling to be poorly regulated and overly available. Overall, attitudes were related to perceptions of regulation as well as the duration of exposure to liberalized markets.

KEYWORDS:

• Gambling attitudes
• social accessibility
• perceived regulation
• cross-national study

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Delfabbro

Paul Delfabbro graduated from the University of Adelaide with degrees in Arts, Commerce and Economics and a PhD in psychology. He has published extensively in several areas, including the psychology of gambling, child protection and child welfare and applied cognition.

Belle Gavriel-Fried

Jeffrey L. Derevensky, Ph.D., is James McGill Professor and Director of Clinical Training in School/Applied Child Psychology and Professor, Department of Psychiatry at McGill University. He is a clinical consultant to numerous hospitals, school boards, government agencies and corporations. Dr. Derevensky has published widely in the field of gambling, adolescence, and developmental psychopathology.

Neven Ricijas

Neven Ricijaš graduated from the University of Zagreb with a degree in Social Pedagogy at the Faculty of Special Education and Rehabilitation Sciences. He completed a PhD in social work. Over the years, his major professional and scientific interests have been in gambling and other behavioral addictions as well as juvenile delinquency and probation sanctions

Dora Dodig Hundric

Dr. Belle Gavriel-Fried is a senior faculty member at School of Social Work in Tel Aviv University. Her research interests include addictions to both substances and behaviors (especially gambling behaviors). She has conducted numerous studies exploring the unique characteristics of Israeli society in the gambling field and perceptions of the family.

Jeff Derevensky

Dora Dodig Hundric is an assistant professor at the Department of Behavioural Disorders (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences). She holds a doctoral degree in the field of gambling.