Abstract: Problem lottery players have become a serious public health concern. Problem lottery playing is lottery playing behavior that creates negative consequences for the player, others in his or her social network, or for the community. There is growing evidence that problem lottery playing hampers people’s physical, psychological, social wellbeing, and healthy development of lottery. According to the expectancy theory, players’ lottery playing behavior can be explained by his or her expectations for specific outcomes from that behavior though activating informative templates in memory forming from personal experiences. The theory of planned behavior, on the other hand, stipulates that lottery playing behavior is predicted by attitude, social norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention. Among them, intention is the single best predictor of lottery playing behavior, which is influenced by the other three factors. However, in expectancy theory and theory of planned behavior, expectations for specific outcomes and attitude are lottery-specific beliefs. General beliefs, which can guide social behavior, are little studied in lottery playing behavior. Fate control is a general belief that there are impersonal, external forces such as fate, destiny, and luck that determine life events. The purposes of this study were: (1) To explore the effect of fate control on problem lottery playing, and (2) To examine whether lottery playing intention and expectancy mediate the relationship between the fate control and problem lottery playing in lottery players. A total sample of 2538 Chinese lottery players was collected, with 1181 males and 839 females, the average age was 38.68-year-old. They were gathered in the lottery shops and finished the questionnaires with a little gift. A confirmatory factor analysis was calculated to test the common method variance. Results indicated that six-factor model (χ2/df = 4.56, p <.01) was better than single-factor model (χ2/df= 19.97, p < .01), making sure the study is accurate enough in terms of common method variance. The result showed that: (1) the relationships between fate control, expectancy, intension and problem lottery playing were significantly positive. Fate control had direct effect on problem lottery playing, as well as expectancy and intension. Expectancy had no direct effect on problem lottery playing, but significantly predicted intension. Intension significantly predicted problem lottery playing. (2) Fate control affected problem lottery playing through two indirect paths: through the mediating role of intension, through the chain mediating role of both expectancy and intension. It was concluded that the fate control had directly influence on problem lottery playing, and expectancy and intension had intermediary effects on problem lottery playing. These findings suggest general beliefs can also influence problem lottery playing. Promoting lottery-specific beliefs and general beliefs simultaneously in intervention programs could be developed to improve the mental health for problem lottery players

Key words: lottery players, fate control, problem lottery playing, expectancy, intension

摘要： 为考察命运控制对彩民问题购彩的影响，以及购彩预期和购彩意向在其中的链式中介作用，本研究采用问卷法对2538名彩民进行调查。结果发现：（1）彩民问题购彩与命运控制、购彩预期和购彩意向均存在正相关；（2）命运控制不仅能直接预测问题购彩，还能通过两条路径的间接作用影响彩民的问题购彩：购彩意向的中介作用；购彩预期和购彩意向的链式中介作用。本研究构建的中介效应模型在一定程度上揭示了命运控制影响彩民问题购彩的内在机制。

关键词: 体育彩民, 命运控制, 问题购彩, 购彩预期, 购彩意向