A cross-country study of gambling fallacies : South Korea, USA, and Switzerland

Abstract

This study assesses gambling fallacy roles in three countries (South Korea, USA, and Switzerland) based on their problem gambling status and independent and interdependent self-construal. Online surveys obtained three separate data sets for South Korea, USA, and Switzerland via local online panel companies, and a confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement. An ANOVA also tested differences in gambling fallacy factors between recreational and pathological gamblers in the three countries. The ANOVA results indicate that each gambling fallacy factor had significant main effects on gambler types. Pathological gamblers in USA scored highest on the system-to-win factor, followed by Switzerland and Korea. Superstitions and follow and blame factors for pathological gamblers in Korea were higher than in USA and Switzerland. Additionally, the cultural backgrounds of pathological gamblers produced gambling fallacy variances. This study contributes to the literature in that a three-country data set validated the distinctive four-factor setting of the gambling fallacy scale. Findings highlight each gambling fallacy factor for recreational and pathological gamblers as unique across the three countries. Furthermore, the results provide managerial implications for developing responsible gambling strategies by considering gambling fallacy factors according to gambler types.