Examining the Latent Structure of Gambling Motivation and Its Relationship with Gambling Behavior in Gambling-Exposed Chinese Casino Employees

Examining why individuals engage in gambling is important in understanding the development of gambling behaviors. Numerous studies have investigated the underlying factor of gambling motivation. However, there is a dearth of evidence showing the latent dimensions of gambling motivation among individuals who are exposed to gambling in daily basis (i.e., casino employees). To address this gap, 817 casino employees were administered the Chinese version of the Gambling Motivation Scale (GMS) and other related measures. Results revealed that of the four models tested, a first-order model with seven factors achieved better fit in contrast to all other models. The seven factors include intrinsic motivation (IM) for knowledge, IM for accomplishment, IM for stimulation, extrinsic motivation (EM) due to identified regulation, EM due to introjected regulation, EM due to external regulation, and amotivation. However, the seven-factor model did not reach the conventional fit indices for good fit. After some post hoc modifications, the revised model achieved adequate fit. Moreover, the revised seven factors were related to frequency of gambling and amount spent for gambling. Generally, results showed that modified GMS with seven factors can be used with Chinese population, more specifically with Chinese casino employees.