Journal of Gambling Studies最新文献

Modern slot machines can create immersive experiences for gamblers. Design features, including audiovisual cues, may influence these experiences, potentially interacting with personal risk factors for disordered gambling. According to the incentive salience hypothesis of addiction, reward-paired audiovisual cues strongly motivate behavior. This study manipulated audiovisual cues during simulated slot machine gambling to test the effects of varying intensities on self-reported immersion. Undergraduate students (n = 156) played a realistic slot machine simulation within an authentic cabinet. They experienced three intensities of audiovisual cues: Minus, Intermediate, and Plus. Participants completed self-report questionnaires, including a retrospective game immersion questionnaire. The pre-registered hypothesis was partially supported: the Intermediate cue condition was associated with greater game immersion than the Minus condition (p < 0.05). Exploratory models revealed higher total scores on the depression, anxiety, and stress scale predicted greater immersion in the Intermediate condition (p < 0.001). A Cue x Gender interaction was driven by greater immersion in the Intermediate cue condition among women, but not men (p < 0.05). Problem gambling severity predicted greater immersion across all models (p < 0.001). Audiovisual cues influenced immersion in slot machine gambling, supporting regulatory attention to audiovisual features as an engineered product aspect. Contrary to predictions, immersion was highest at the intermediate not maximal level of stimulation. Gender and affective symptoms also impacted immersion, indicating personal risk factors in susceptibility.

Although gambling can be a form of entertainment for some, it is commonly associated with social, psychological, financial, and physical harm. To reduce the adverse effects of gambling, it is important to examine the implications of gambling for policy formulation. In this study, we examine the causal impact of gambling on savings behaviour using a sample of gamblers from Australian household panel data for the period of 2015 and 2018. Our results show that gambling is associated with poor savings behaviour. This result is robust to different measures of gambling, eight different sub-groups and four gambling risk statuses. Our mediation results show that social capital and locus of control are mechanisms through which gambling influences saving behaviour.

Gambling can enhance utility for some people but may reduce it when it leads to financial hardship and relationship problems. We hypothesize that, in the case of moderate-risk and problem gambling, the negative effects outweigh any potential benefits, resulting in an overall negative relationship with subjective well-being. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from Australia, we find evidence consistent with this hypothesis. Moderate-risk and problem gambling is associated with lower levels of subjective well-being. This result holds across a range of sensitivity checks, including tests for omitted variable bias, heteroskedasticity-based identification, and propensity score matching. Our findings underscore the importance of strategies that help reduce problematic gambling behavior and limit its potential harms.

Collegiate athletes in traditional sports are a vulnerable population for problem gambling. Little is known about whether collegiate esports (competitive video gaming) athletes share the same vulnerability. Additionally, existing research combines esports groups into a larger sample of involvement, which does not capture potential distinct behaviors. This cross-sectional comparative study aimed to address this gap by comparing gambling behaviors, gaming behaviors, and psychological characteristics of video gamers (n = 234), esports spectators (n = 137), and collegiate esports athletes (n = 116) from North America. An online survey was distributed to universities and collegiate esports communities through convenience sampling. All participants completed self-report measures assessing gambling behaviors, gaming behaviors, emotional regulation, and impulsivity. Kruskal-Wallis H-tests and post-hoc comparisons were used to assess group differences. Results show esports athletes significantly having the highest proportion of problem gambling (19%) relative to spectators (16.9%) and gamers (5.3%). Esports spectators significantly spent the most median money per day gambling (Median = 0.65), followed by gamers then esport athletes (Median = 0.00). Spectators had the highest problem gaming proportion (16.1%) than esports athletes (6.9%) and video gamers (3.4%). Video gamers scored the lowest on all subscales of gaming motives, whereas spectators reported highest motivations in escapism, coping and fantasy. Esports athletes' motivation was highest in social, competition, and skill development. Esports spectators reported the most difficulties in emotional regulation, followed by esports athletes then video gamers. Findings suggest that the normalization of gambling in esports could be associated with increased gambling engagement. Future research should explore prevention strategies and long-term esports involvement effects on gambling. Word Count: 250.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the readability and reliability of websites providing information about gambling. The study assessed 65 Turkish-language websites from Google. In this study, readability was assessed using the Ateşman Readability Index, which determines textual difficulty based on sentence and word length. Additionally, the reliability of the content was evaluated using the Journal of the American Medical Association benchmark, which assesses the trustworthiness of online information through four key criteria: authorship, attribution, disclosure, and currency. Journal of the American Medical Association score was 1.23 ± 0.93, and 64.6% of websites were rated as having "insufficient information/low reliability. The average Ateşman score was 51.63 ± 12.51, corresponding to an 11th-12th grade reading level, which is considered moderately difficult for general population. Despite 81.5% of the sites originating from health organizations, both readability and reliability were found to be inadequate. These findings highlight the need for more accessible and trustworthy digital resources on gambling addiction. Collaboration among content creators, health professionals, and policymakers is recommended to improve the readability and reliability of online health information.

Poker-machines present a significant problem gambling risk in Australia, with adverse health, financial, and social outcomes. Previous research has demonstrated that gambling cues (e.g., poker-machine sounds) elicit an urge to gamble in poker-machine gamblers, with greater problem gambling severity predicting a stronger cue-reactive urge to gamble. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship remain largely unexplored. Consequently, the present study investigated whether cue-reactive state mindfulness mediates the relationship between problem gambling severity and cue-reactive urge to gamble. Seventy adults (67% male and 33% female) with an age range of 20 to 66 years (M = 41.1, SD = 10.8) participated in an online, repeated-measures experiment. Participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index, then subsequently, at three time points (baseline, post-neutral cue, and post-gambling cue), a visual analogue scale measuring the strength of the urge to gamble, and the State Mindfulness Scale. The urge to gamble significantly increased from neutral cue to gambling cue, after controlling for baseline urge. Cue-reactive state mindfulness did not mediate the relationship between problem gambling severity and cue-reactive urge to gamble. Contrary to predictions, state mindfulness increased following exposure to the gambling cue. The present findings contribute to the body of research supporting cue-reactivity in problem gamblers.

Gambling Disorder and its adverse outcomes are prevalent in Chinese gamblers, and modifiable cognitive factors should be identified to improve interventions. Drawing on the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model, the present study examined the associations between positive and negative metacognitions about gambling, attentional inflexibility, and severity of Gambling Disorder symptoms in 1,024 Chinese gamblers. Results revealed that, consistent with hypotheses, both positive and negative metacognitions about gambling were positively correlated with severity of Gambling Disorder symptoms. Furthermore, attentional inflexibility significantly mediated the association between both positive and negative metacognitions about gambling and severity of Gambling Disorder symptoms. These findings not only provide additional evidence on the application of S-REF model to understanding Gambling Disorder but also highlight the potential benefits of Metacognitive Therapy in both restructuring metacognitions about gambling and modifying attentional inflexibility in mitigating gambling problems.

A cognitive tendency toward high risk-taking is linked to gambling disorder (GD), but the specific behavioral manifestations of risky decision-making in GD are unclear. This study addresses this by analyzing differences in behavior between individuals with GD and healthy controls using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Data from 169 adults were analyzed, including 116 with GD (57 severe, 59 mild-to-moderate) and 53 healthy controls. Four metrics were used: (1) total earnings to quantify risk decision-making ability, (2) number of exploded balloons to quantify risk propensity, (3) adjusted average pumps to quantify risk-taking level, and (4) unexploded pumps' standard deviation (SD) to quantify exploratory tendency. Statistical comparisons and correlations among these metrics were examined. Significant differences were found between the GD and control groups in total earnings and the unexploded pumps' SD, with a positive correlation between these measures in the GD group. The unexploded pumps' SD fully mediated the relationship between group membership (GD vs. HC) and total earnings. These patterns were consistent across severe GD groups. While severe GD participants had similar total earnings to the mild-to-moderate group, they exhibited a higher unexploded pumps' SD and showed a significant correlation between total earnings and the unexploded pumps' SD. Individuals with GD demonstrate poorer risk decision-making abilities and higher exploratory tendencies compared to healthy controls. The higher exploratory tendency is a key factor in their disadvantageous decision-making. Severe GD is characterized by a greater exploratory tendency than mild-to-moderate GD. These findings underscore the importance of evaluating exploratory tendencies in risky decision-making and suggest that future GD treatments should target the cognitive neural mechanisms underlying this tendency for more effective diagnostics and therapy.

An individual's ability to make informed decisions about future gambling expenditure requires an awareness of affordability and likely return, and hence an accurate understanding of their past outcomes. Electronic gaming machines (EGMs) have been criticised for having structural characteristics that erode informed decision-making (e.g., loses disguised as wins, display of credits vs. currency). Here we investigate individual's understanding of their recent and future  EGM spending. Survey responses for 187 Australian EGM customers (age range:18-81, 57% female) were linked to their account data held by a gambling venue. Few customers accurately recalled and predicted their past/future 30-day expenditure to within a 10% margin of error, including net outcome (i.e., accurate recall [5.5%] or prediction [17.4%] of total amount won or lost); win (10.5%; 32.9%), and total spend (2.6%; 12.8%). The ability to accurately report gambling expenditure was almost exclusively limited to those who did not gamble during the period reported. Participants with greater impulsivity and more willingness to take risks were less accurate in their prediction of net outcome and spend, respectively. Across recall and prediction, participants commonly overestimated their net result, yet underestimated the amount they won, suggesting that winnings are re-gambled without considering them as their own funds. Our findings demonstrate EGM customers do not understand their gambling expenditure and changes are needed to the product and environment to facilitate informed choice.