Lottery ticket purchases by adolescents: a qualitative and quantitative examination

Abstract

This report presents the results of a comprehensive study examining adolescent lottery playing behaviour in Ontario. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the differential gambling patterns of underage adolescents in order to identify the specific characteristics and determinants that influence their lottery playing behaviour. As such, this research examined gender and developmental differences in lottery playing behaviour. The structural characteristics of lottery products that are particularly appealing to youth (e.g., monetary value, attribute of the ticket, type of game, prize structure, advertisements, colour of ticket, etc.) were also examined. As well, all the available literature on youth gambling patterns suggest that a small but identifiable population of youth have severe gambling problems, with an even larger number of youth at-risk for the development of a gambling problem. Of significant importance was the examination of lottery playing behaviour of adolescents based upon level of gambling severity.