Financial Literacy Confidence and Gambling Intensity among Informal Labor

Abstract

This paper aimed to investigate whether financial literacy (knowledge and confidence) affects the level of gambling intensity among informal laborers in southern Thailand. Multistage sampling was applied, and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview the subjects face-to-face. There were in total 995 questionnaires used in the analysis that applied logistic regression. The results reveal that there was an inconsistency between what the subjects actually know and what they think they know. Their actual financial literacy was poor, while their financial literacy confidence was high. Females had higher financial literacy confidence than males. In addition, it was found that the higher the financial literacy confidence, the higher the gambling intensity. If the subject possessed good financial literacy, the gambling intensity was not increased. Thus, providing financial education could be one approach to reducing gambling intensity. Besides financial education, training with the purpose to achieve a healthy dose of financial literacy confidence is also no less crucial. JEL: G53; G59; G40