Study title

The survey charted Finnish gambling habits, frequency of gambling, amount of money gambled and views on problem gambling. 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. The first section of the survey focused on gambling games in general. 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 past 12 months or before. Other questions charted online gambling, the gambling websites visited, frequency of gambling activities, and money and time spent on gambling in the previous 30 days. The respondents were asked to estimate the average weekly sum spent on gambling, the largest win in the previous 12 months, their age and the game played when they gambled for the first time. The second section covered perceptions on gambling. 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 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." In the third section, the respondents' Internet use and habits of playing non-gambling games were charted. Questions covered whether they had an Internet connection, how many hours not relating to work they had spent on the Internet in the previous 7 days, whether they played video games and how many hours they had played them in the previous week and month. The respondents' relation to gambling was examined. They...