The Financial Literacy Paradox in Gambling Disorder: Why Knowing Isn’t Doing

Abstract

This study investigates the paradox that individuals with gambling disorder (GD) may possess financial knowledge yet still engage in economically harmful behaviors. Using a cross-sectional design, we compared financial literacy—across knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors—between 100 individuals with GD and 123 matched healthy controls in Türkiye. While both groups demonstrated similar levels of financial knowledge, those with GD showed significantly impaired financial attitudes and behaviors. Structural equation modeling revealed that financial literacy mediated the relationship between education, income, and gambling severity, while longer gambling duration directly predicted greater severity. These findings suggest that financial literacy is not a fixed cognitive asset but a fragile faculty vulnerable to compulsion, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive bias. We argue that financial literacy in the context of gambling is not merely about what individuals know, but how that knowledge is enacted—vulnerable to being undermined by behavioral dynamics. The implications extend beyond gambling to broader questions of volition, agency, and the limits of rational action under conditions of addiction.