Study title

The survey charted Finnish gambling habits, frequency of gambling, amount of money gambled as well as views on problem gambling and gambling policy and regulation. The term gambling is used here as an umbrella term for lotteries, slot machines, betting, bookmaking, the pools, roulette wheels, and card and dice tables as well as online variations of all of these. First perceptions on gambling were studied. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to gambling, such as "people should have the right to gamble whenever they want" and "gambling is detrimental to family life." The respondents were asked whether they thought gambling was a problem in Finland, whether the problems associated with gambling had increased or decreased and if the government monopoly and the age limit of 18 were effective ways of limiting problem gambling. The next section of the survey focused on the respondents' experiences of gambling. The respondents were presented with a list of various games (e.g. lotto games and scratchcards of Veikkaus, the National Lottery of Finland, games of chance in a casino and slot machines of Finland's Slot Machine Association, RAY) and asked whether they had played them during the previous 12 months. Other questions charted online gambling in the previous 12 months, gambling websites visited, and frequency of gambling activities. The respondents were asked to estimate the average weekly sum spent on gambling, their largest win in the previous 12 months, and at what age they had gambled for the first time. The respondents' relationship to gambling was examined. They were asked how often they returned another day to try to win back the money they had lost, whether they had claimed to be winning at gambling even though they were actually losing money, whether they had gambled more than they had intended to, and whether other people had criticised them for gambling. Some questions explored whether the respondents had felt...