Results

Table 4 shows the marginal effects from a probit regression for determinants of participation in the illegal lottery. Model 1 includes basic demographic and socioeconomic variables. Males are 14.6 percent more likely than females to participate in the illegal lottery. While this finding is consistent with most previous research, the gap between the probability of males and females participating in the illegal lottery is significantly much smaller than in legal lotteries, where nearly 80 percent of punters are males (see e.g. Zeng and Zhang 2007). This is consistent with our field findings that the illegal lottery is more popular among females than the legal lottery. A possible explanation is that participating in legal lotteries, which often requires a visit to lottery selling booths or stores, is often regarded by females as a “man’s game,” because males are the overwhelmingly majority of customers. This is also consistent with females being more likely to feel shame and guilt for gambling, such as buying legal lotteries publicly (McCormack, Shorter, and Griffiths 2014). The convenience of betting on the illegal lottery, via undercover bet collectors on a one-to-one basis, makes females more willing to participate. In addition, this convenience is of particular importance for migrant workers who have a busy work schedule.