Chinese Casino Gambling Behaviors: Risk Taking in Casinos vs. Abstract Investments

Capitalizing on the recent developments in casino gambling in Macao and the dominance of Chinese gambling at Macao casinos, the purpose of this research was to study how Chinese behaved in gambling and how these behaviors related to another risk taking activity, investment, which has been documented to be in a different risk taking domain from gambling. A survey was carried out in Macao with casino gamblers as the target respondents. In addition to socio-economic data, each respondent was asked about the extent of his gambling involvement and his responses to some standardized investment decision making situations. Bet-to-income ratio was used to assess a respondent\u27s risk taking behavior in casino gambling. The questionnaire developed by MacCrimmon and Wehrung (1988) was used to assess risk taking propensities in the area of investment. Results showed that gamblers appeared to be taking high risk while gambling. In addition, the degrees of risk taking in the two domains were significantly and positively correlated. The quest for instant rewards either for quick profits or for satisfying strong immediate sensations and excitement might possibly explain the correlation