Experiential Gambling: Interactions Between Consumer Experiences, Emotional Engagement, and Behavioural Settings

This investigation explores experiential gambling behavior by modifying the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to build a theoretical model which examines the interactive nature of three variables, Experiences, Emotional engagement and Behavioral settings. Experiential motives such as Entertainment, Education, Esthetics and Escapism (Pine & Gilmore, 1999) are examined in the context of emotional responses (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) of Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance (PAD) and how these responses interact with Open and Closed behavioral settings postulated by Foxall (1999) in the Behavioral Perspective model (BPM). Based upon a statistical analysis of 303 questionnaires, which collected information on gambling behavior in the North East of England, the results illustrate that consumers’ emotional engagement and behavioral settings impact upon gambling behavior. However, the relevance of the Experience variable as hypothesised is not confirmed. From a theoretical standpoint, this paper offers an integrated model for understanding gambling behavior while differentiating the nature of its contribution away from situation specific scenarios. On a practical level it highlights design implications that can enhance or limit the potential of gambling activities