Understanding gambling behaviour through theories of behavioural finance: evidence from lottery ticket punters in Sarawak

• Main Author: Bong, Shirley
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2013
• Subjects: HG Finance
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/9088/1/Shirley%20Bong%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/9088/

This research attempts to identify the factor that drives gambling behaviour of lottery ticket punters in Sarawak through the perspective of behavioural finance theories. The gambling industry in Malaysia is experiencing growth, particularly in lottery gambling and this is a negative phenomenon in reflecting the public health of the country. Overconfidence, prospect theory, mental accounting and heuristics behaviour are fundamental theories in behavioural finance that explains the reasoning behind cognitive biases in rational decision making proce0 previous researches have found empirical results that these financial theories are relevant and significant factors to gambling behaviour as well. We attempt to identify these cognitive traits in order to formulate policies that could reduce the escalating financial commitments toward gambling activity identified in Sarawak. 1n this study, we utilized the secondary data available to formulate the primary data collection technique through distribution of questionnaire, to obtain feedback from respondents on questions pertaining these measurable variables. Raw data are processed through statistical tools to provide results supporting 'proposed hypothesis and formulation of policies for recommendations to problem statement of this study. Findings found empirical evidence on how prospect theory, mental accounting and heuristic behaviour influences the lottery ticket punter's decision. Although overconfidence level oflottery ticket punters is high, we do not found any evidence that it factors on lottery gambling behaviour.