{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T06:28:49Z","timestamp":1787725729184,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787702400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In Kazakhstan, online betting, online casinos, and pyramidal pseudo-investment schemes increasingly occupy overlapping mobile and platform-mediated environments. Shared channels may support common engagement mechanisms. Participant-level sequential entry into a second domain, continued participation in that domain, and durable migration require separate empirical assessment.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aim<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Guided by three qualitative research questions, the article examines: (1) how digital, social, and cognitive mechanisms shape entry and retention; (2) which participant-level records document temporally ordered participation across gambling and pseudo-investment domains and which cross-source records document shared cross-domain infrastructure; and (3) which contextual conditions concerning recruitment, visibility, household recognition, and crisis response are illustrated in the material.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A multi-source qualitative design combined 25 interviews with persons reporting gambling-related problems, 19 with pseudo-investment participants, 22 family or co-resident interviews concerning gambling-related focal persons, 22 psychologist or psychotherapist interviews, 12 law-enforcement interviews, and five macro-regional focus groups. The 44 first-person accounts formed the trajectory denominator. Respondent groups were coded within source type and integrated through provenance-preserving joint displays. Direct first-person evidence determined participant chronology and case counts; collateral and cross-source evidence informed mechanism interpretation. Cross-domain coding used three grades: temporally ordered second-domain entry, continued participation beyond a single trial, and durable substitution or reorientation. Direction-specific elicitation was systematic for P\u202f\u2192\u202fG in the pseudo-investment guide and general for G\u202f\u2192\u202fP in the gambling guide.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Case-level mapping identified five recurrent within-domain stages and unevenly supported adjacent links. Eleven cases documented the complete five-stage order, 17 contained other partial ordered sequences, 12 were nonlinear, recursive, or alternative, and 4 were trial-only or nonconsolidating. Adjacent transitions were EXP\u202f\u2192\u202fENT in 35 cases, ENT\u202f\u2192\u202fCON in 39, CON\u2192ESC in 30, and ESC\u202f\u2192\u202fCRS in 27. Thirteen unique cases bypassed at least one intermediate stage. The tested six-element order with cross-domain change between escalation and crisis\/exit occurred in zero cases. Two of the 19 pseudo-investment participants with systematic adjacent-risk elicitation documented post-crisis P\u202f\u2192\u202fG entry; these were also two of the 44 first-person cases overall. P04 progressed to repeated gambling and escalation. P17 reported one lottery purchase. The durable-migration criterion was unmet in both cases. Direct records contained zero G\u202f\u2192\u202fP cases under general elicitation. Regional metadata were reportable for 20 of 44 first-person cases and unavailable or suppressed for 24. The contextual analysis centered on mechanisms, with region and gender retained as source metadata.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The data support a heterogeneous cross-case framework of recurrent within-domain stages and uneven transition possibilities. Cross-domain evidence comprised two post-crisis P\u202f\u2192\u202fG entries: one case progressed to repeated second-domain participation, and one remained a single trial. Durable cross-domain migration occurred in zero cases. The study integrates three evidence categories: recurrent shared mechanisms, shared cross-domain infrastructure, and graded participant-level sequential entry.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1756586","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]],"date-time":"2026-08-26T05:57:49Z","timestamp":1787723869000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Shared digital, social, and cognitive mechanisms in gambling and pseudo-investment schemes in Kazakhstan: a multi-source qualitative study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Zhanna","family":"Khamzina","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Law, Zhetysu University Named After I. Zhansugurov","place":["TaldyKorgan, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yermek","family":"Buribayev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Law, Zhetysu University Named After I. Zhansugurov","place":["TaldyKorgan, Kazakhstan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.3390\/risks11030049","article-title":"Cryptocurrencies as gamblified financial assets and crypto casinos: novel risks for a public health approach to gambling","volume":"11","author":"Andrade","year":"2023","journal-title":"Risks"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511812507","volume-title":"Outline of a Theory of Practice (R. 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