of gambling in 1996,<sup>11</sup> the South African gaming industry has grown substantially with gross revenues more than doubling between 2001 and 2009 to 18.13 billion Rand (1.57 billion USD) (Nzimande et al. 2010). The prevalence of gambling is also quite skewed – a 2003 survey found that while 43% of the population participated in some form of gambling, poorer household spent a significantly higher percentage of total income on it (Smith 2003). Further research in the country has shown that gambling is most prevalent among blacks, with 55% reporting that they gambled at least occasionally and 24% reporting they played the lottery regularly (NUPSGB, 2001). When asked why they gamble, 85% of respondents mentioned the chance of winning a large prize. This study also highlighted that gambling is quite socially acceptable in South Africa with 69% of respondents reporting that either some or all forms of gambling ’was ok’. We focus on one particular form of gambling, the national lotto. A 2009 regional study in the Eastern Cape showed that playing the lottery was by far the most common form of gambling in the area – 49% of respondents had tried it at least once and active gamblers played an average of 3.5 times per month (TNS 2009).<sup>12</sup>

# **3.2 Study Sample and Outcome Measures**

This study was part of a broader program that delivered classroom based financial education to individuals in rural and peri-urban areas.<sup>13</sup> Participants were organized in burial societies and women borrowing groups.<sup>14</sup> We conducted surveys in 13 geographic clusters in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal, two of South Africa’s most populous provinces.

A total sample of 840 was drawn from 27 women borrowing groups and 45 burial societies. Baseline characteristics of the sample were measured between July and November 2011 and are reported in Table 2. As the majority of burial society members were female, our sample consists of almost 90% women. Our sample is also older (53 years vs. the national average of 39 years), less educated (6.4 vs. 7.5 years), and less likely to be employed (7.3% vs. 23.4%). At the time of the baseline survey, 15% of

> 11During apartheid, all forms of gambling were prohibited under the 1965 National Gambling Act (no 15). The National Party denounced gambling as an “immoral evil” undermining the work ethic by encouraging reliance upon luck rather than hard work and skill (Lotter 1994, p.192).

> 12The lottery has distinctive features that distinguish it from other forms of gambling: it has large prizes and very low winning odds, is cheap to play, fair in the sense that it does not depend on skills, and regarded one of most socially acceptable forms of gambling (Rogers 1998).

> 13As part of a different study, half of the group in the sample received a half-day financial education training between March and June 2012. As the gambling debias was randomly assigned at the individual level, these two treatments are orthogonal. In addition, the financial education curriculum did not include any information on gambling. All estimations in this study control for whether participants received the financial education program.

> 14Burial Societies are a common form of associations to save for the typically large costs of funerals in South Africa.

12