Contingency management for the treatment of harmful gambling: A case report

Abstract

Contingency management (CM) is an effective behavioural treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) that involves providing incentives (e.g., vouchers) for target behaviours related to recovery. Despite evidence of its efficacy with SUD, little is known about its feasibility for the treatment of other addictive disorders. Here, we sought to investigate the feasibility of a remote-delivered CM intervention in promoting gambling treatment-related outcomes. Voucher-based incentives were provided contingent on abstinence from gambling, attendance at treatment, and completion of weekly recovery-related goals. Overall, the present findings indicate that CM procedures can be feasibly and advantageously applied as an adjunct treatment to promote recovery from harmful gambling. Further research is needed on larger-scale evaluations and methods of disseminating the wider adoption of CM for the treatment of harmful gambling.