Hate me, but Love My Dog: Dealer Alienation and Stereotyped Self-Prophecy Drive Casino Dealers to Pathological Gambling

Abstract

Elevated risk for pathological gambling among casino employees motivated us to explore the plausible link of working in casinos with disordered gambling. Will gambling, a possible working stress reliever, do the same to casino employees? A convenient sample of four hundred and one Chinese casino dealers (Male=187, Female=211, Not reported=3) was collected via snowballing sampling in Macau with an age range from 18 to 67 years old (M=28.64, SD=9.05). Results showed 10.5% of respondents reporting five or more pathological gambling symptoms indicated by DSM-IV-TR diagnoses criteria in the past year. Path analyses revealed direct positive effects of dealer alienation and stereotyped self-prophecy (belief of their vulnerability to gambling because of being a dealer) on displaying pathological gambling symptoms. Affective organizational commitment, interpersonal justice, supervisor support, and job satisfaction could ameliorate the inclination of dealer alienation whereas social cynicism could exacerbate the proneness of dealer alienation.