Explaining Gambling Behaviour Among the Youth in Kenya

Abstract

In the face of the negative publicity which gaming has attracted recently, this research sought to unearth drivers of gambling behaviour among the youth in Kenya. To this end, indebtedness was introduced as an undesirable outcome and three gaming dimensions examined. These dimensions were: gaming propensity, intensity, and efficiency. Utilizing the Financial Access Survey 2021 dataset on 22024 households, and employing both the Cragg hurdle model and stochastic frontier analysis, this research documents that age cohort is not a significant predictor of gaming although a youth is a more efficient gamer. Second, this research provides evidence for gaming expenditures significantly declining in rural employment. The effect of indebtedness on gaming is, however, varied. On one hand, indebtedness moderates the effect of other factors on gaming. On the other hand, this research established that indebtedness, on its own, had three-fold effects: savings-backed loan repayment raised gaming propensity, expenditure efficiency, and technical inefficiency, and; food expense reduction-backed repayments enhanced gaming efficiency while reliance on more work to repay loans was associated with higher technical inefficiency and higher expenditure efficiency. Third, within the income/ poverty context, individuals were less likely to gamble as incomes rose but among those opting to gamble, gaming expenditures rose in income. Food secure individuals also spent more on gaming than food insecure individuals whereas gaming and energy poverty had no association. This research, therefore, recommends, among other things, improvements in rural employment and financial prudence such that individuals and debtors do not have to rely upon the gaming market. Key words: financial access, gambling behaviour, undesirable outcomes, youth