Gambling

Patterns and Prevalence of Gambling Behaviour among Youths in South-West Nigeria: A Case Study of Youths in Oyo and Ekiti State (Published)

Gambling has become an activity that most Nigerian youths and adolescents engaged in, with accessibility due to available internet. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the patterns and prevalence of gambling behavior among youths in the South-West Nigeria. 320 participants were involved in the study. Four hypotheses were tested and result shows that there is a significant difference in the gambling behaviour of youth in Oyo and Ekiti State, Nigeria based on age (F(2,294) = 2.793, P(.009)<.05).also the research showed that there is a significant relationship between financial strain and gambling behaviour (r(297) = .561p<.05). Also, there is a significant relationship between personality and gambling. (r(297) = .275 p<.05). Furthermore, it was revealed that there is a relationship between depression and gambling behaviour. (r(297) = .321 p<.05). Findings were discussed in line with extant literature and recommendations were made.

Keywords: Behavior, Ekiti State, Gambling, Nigeria, Patterns, Youths

Socio-Cultural and Environmental Determinants of Youth Gambling: Evidence from Ghana (Published)

The gambling behaviour of the youth is among the least explored research areas in Ghana. Most previous study focused on youth and employment, youth and development, youth and politics, youth empowerment, youth and education, youth and HIV/AIDS and more recently youth and agriculture. The big question is how much do we know about youth and problem gambling as Ghanaians? This study deployed social learning theory and social conflict theory by Albert Bandura and Karl Max respectively as the underpinning philosophies to assess youth gambling attitude in Ghana in order to fill this knowledge gap. A cross sectional descriptive survey approach was adopted for this study. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 200 youth from all the nine sub metro within Kumasi metropolis. Structured questionnaire was the main instrument used in gathering primary data. Data were analyzed with Predictive Analytic Software (PASW) for windows. The results were presented using regression, correlation, ANOVA and percentages. The study revealed that all the factors outlined to predict youth gambling behaviour were significant (R² = 0.822, ANOVA < 0.05). Furtherance, 1% change in familial factors will bring 70.7% (0.841²) in youth attitude towards gambling. Moreover, 1% change in social factors will bring 22.9% (0.479²) change in youth attitude towards gambling. Also, a unit change in cultural and demographic factors will bring 4.7% (0.219²) change in youth attitude towards gambling. Finally, a unite change in environmental factor will bring 2% (0.142²) change in youth attitude towards gambling. It is recommended that future studies should consider factors such as cognitive and economic factors to determine youth gambling behaviour.

Keywords: Cultural and Environmental factors, Gambling, Ghana, Social, Youth, attitude