Motivations for gambling and problem gambling: A systematic review and methodological critique.

The review highlights that, despite significant progress over the past 2 decades, much research on gambling motives suffers from simplistic methodologies, flawed measurement conceptualizations, poor theoretical integration, and a lack of treatment-related studies. If these issues are not addressed, research on gambling motives will likely remain fragmented, with limited generalizability. As a result, there is a notable lack of evidence to reliably inform the translation of research findings into clinical practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).