I present evidence that unmet liquidity needs for indivisible, “lumpy”, expenditures in the presence of financial constraints create demand for betting as a second-best method of liquidity generation. With a sample of 1,842 sports bettors in Kampala, Uganda, I conduct a natural experiment on expenditures following wins, a randomized savings treatment, and two lab-in-the field experiments. The savings treatment reduces demand for betting by 28% while two lab-in-the field experiments show that unmet liquidity needs and saving ability are important driving mechanisms behind the result. These results cannot be explained by betting as a purely normal good.

中文翻译：

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赌博、储蓄和庞大的流动性需求

我提出的证据表明，在存在财务限制的情况下，对不可分割的“块状”支出的未满足流动性需求创造了将博彩作为第二好的流动性产生方法的需求。以乌干达坎帕拉的 1,842 名体育博彩玩家为样本，我对获胜后的支出进行了自然实验、随机储蓄处理和两个现场实验室实验。储蓄处理将投注需求降低了 28%，而两个现场实验室实验表明，未满足的流动性需求和储蓄能力是结果背后的重要驱动机制。这些结果不能用投注作为一种纯粹的正常商品来解释。