Knowledge, attitude and practice towards gambling in Uganda. A case study of Karumena village central division

Abstract

This study assesses the knowledge, attitude and practice gambling in Karumena village, Kamonyi ward Central Division. Gambling simply is the activity of playing a game of chance for money or other stakes. It was intended to examine the age group and education levels of most of the gamblers. A sample size of 124 persons selected by simple random sampling was interviewed using questionnaires. The data gathered from the interviews were compiled and analyzed using Microsoft Excel, STATA and SPSS. Findings showed that 80% gamblers were youths.

From multivariate analysis, a couple of factors like media access, peer influence and gender were some of the significant factors associated with gambling. Single persons have more than 5 times the odds of gambling than married ones. Most of the persons involved in sports betting have their peers and some of their family members engaged in gambling. Conclusively, more exposure to media sports and gambling advertisements can lead to gambling.

However, the government through the police should put more emphasis on the age policy on gambling that prohibits gambling among the under the age of 25. Sensitization about the socio-economic effects of gambling should be done to reduce on the prevalence rate of gambling