Qualitative follow-up of the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007 | findings

We found that there were four kinds of gambler. They were peripheral gamblers, gambling enthusiasts, business gamblers and compulsive gamblers.

Peripheral gamblers were largely motivated by things other than the gambling itself, such as  the social experience. Some felt that gambling was a waste of money, while others were afraid of the harm it could do.

The forms of gambling they chose to take part in involved socialising, the chance of a big win from a small bet, made it easy to know how much money they had spent and required little effort. Unsurprisingly, for this group gambling had little impact on their lives.

Gambling enthusiasts were interested in gambling and were motivated by the challenge of winning money by using their skill and knowledge. They were also attracted by the locations and rituals of gambling.

They tended to focus on forms of gambling that they felt involved a challenge, such as playing cards. They liked the buzz of winning money and spent time and effort in preparation, for example, studying odds or form. They were careful of spending within their means, and did this by setting limits on themselves before gambling and keeping track of their wins and losses.

These types of gamblers generally felt that gambling had a positive impact on them.

Business gamblers, like gambling enthusasits, gambled frequently but did not feel compelled to gamble. However, unlike gambling enthusiasts, they were not gambling for fun but in order to make money. This meant they took a more sophisticated approach to gambling, and were less interested in the locations and rituals of gambling.

Business gamblers did not feel that gambling  had a negative impact on their finanical position, but felt it may have had a negative impact on their social life.

Compulsive gamblers felt a powerful, internal drive to gamble and it could become a central and controlling feature of their lives.

However, there were also compulsive gamblers who felt they could control their gambling and so limit the impact it had on them. They did this through strategies such as avoiding gambling locations or getting themselves excluded from places such as casinos.

For this group of gamblers, the buzz of gambling could decrease over time while the feeling of compulsion continued and in some cases they were motivated by the desire to escape from their lives. They were attracted to high risk gambling, because of the possiblity of a bigger win, and sometimes deliberately avoided monitoring the amount they spent.

Gambling could have a very negative effect on their lives, depending on the degree to which they were able to deal with their feelings of compulsion.

People described their feelings of compulsion coming and going over time. In some cases, this feeling of compulsion was triggered by something definite, such as engaging in a new form of gambling or a change in personal circumstances. In other cases, people couldn't identify any particular trigger, but the feeling grew steadily over time.

Stopping or controlling feelings of compulsion happened when people's behaviour was challenged, there was a change in personal circumstances or a significant life event. These things were reinforced when people no longer enjoyed gambling, when it was having a negative effect on their finances and when they had a supportive family.