Responsible gambling : why occasional use is generally safe

Most people are aware of the harms of problem gambling. Playing pokie machines, placing bets and visiting casinos can be a very expensive form of entertainment. And when gamblers lose more than they can afford, the consequences can be disastrous for the person playing and their family. But gambling products are only harmful when people consume too much of them. Gambling is like alcohol: occasional use is generally safe. So, just like the two-drink maximum for alcohol, establishing guidelines for “responsible” gambling could reduce the risk of overuse

The impact of an audience and venue-size on poker machine gambling

The studies described herein explore how the intensity of gambling behaviour on Poker Machines (e.g., bet-size and speed of betting) is influenced by the size of the venue, and more specifically, the number of patrons within a venue. These studies suggest that large gaming venues contribute to behaviours consistent with greater player losses, and this effect may chiefly result from the informational effect of the broadcasting of wins across the gaming floor

Validation of the Consumption Screen for Problem Gambling (CSPG)

A 3 item screen for problem gambling was developed based on a conceptual analogue of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test—Consumption (Bush et al. in Arch Intern Med 158:1789–1795, 1998); a brief screen that measures consumption rather than harm. Data were collected from an email panel survey of 588 men and 810 women (n = 1,398) across all states in Australia. Respondents indicated their consumption of gambling products using the 3 items of the new Consumption Screen for Problem Gambling (CSPG). Receiver Operating Characteristics curve analysis was used to analyze the performance of the new items relative to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (Ferris and Wynne in The Canadian problem gambling index: Final report, 2001). Results show a 98% probability that the CSPG score for a randomly chosen positive case of problem gambling will exceed the score for a randomly chosen negative case. In addition, a score of 4+ on the CSPG identified all 14 cases of Problem Gambling correctly, while only 7.3% of non-problem gamblers had scores of 4+ (sensitivity = 100%; specificity = 92.7%). Lastly, only 3.0% of respondents without any gambling problems had CSPG scores of 4+. The current study suggests that the CSPG, a brief consumption-based measure for gambling products, can quickly and accurately identify people who are likely to be experiencing gambling problems

Book reviews : Gambling: behaviour theory, research, and application

The current volume, Gambling: Behavior Theory, Research, and Application, offers a different perspective on gambling from the mainstream focus on cognitive arguments regarding motivation. Instead, the book extols the virtue of a behaviourist approach and focuses on the observable aspects of gamblers' behaviour

Get rich or die trying: when gambling becomes a problem

A relatively new theory, from the early 2000s, the Four Es, identifies four psychological factors that put people at increased risk of becoming a problem gambler: esteem, excitement, excess and escape. This theory sheds some light on the psychological make-up of the problem gambler; so let’s look at these points one by one

The Impact of self-awareness and physiological arousal on EGM gambling behaviour

This report describes four experimental studies investigating psychological factors that influence betting behaviour on Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs). Findings on these psychological factors are intended to help inform governments on the impact of policies aimed at reducing gambling-related harm. The research builds on the theoretical framework of the Four Es theory of risk for gambling problems (Rockloff, M. & Dyer, V., 2006, 2007). The Four Es risk factors include Escape, Excitement, Esteem and Excess; which are hypothesised motivations underlying problem gambling behaviour. This report focuses on the Escape and Excitement motivations

The impact of an audience and venue size on poker machine gambling

The studies described herein explore how the intensity of gambling behaviour on Poker Machines (e.g., bet-size and speed of betting) is influenced by the size of the venue, and more specifically, the number of patrons within a venue. These studies suggest that large gaming venues contribute to behaviours consistent with greater player losses, and this effect may chiefly result from the informational effect of the broadcasting of wins across the gaming floor

Measuring behavioural dependence in gambling: A case for removing harmful consequences from the assessment of problem gambling pathology

Behavioural dependence (BD) for gambling has traditionally been subsumed under the concept of ‘problems’: a hybrid construct that includes both indicators of BD, and adverse consequences (harm) arising from excessive time and money expenditure. Although progress has been made towards specific measurement of harm, dedicated measures of BD do not exist. Theory led us to expect that (1) dependence and harm are measurably distinct constructs, (2) harm mediates the relationship between dependence and wellbeing, and finally, that (3) separate measures should be more effective than a unidimensional problems measure in predicting wellbeing. Candidate BD items from six existing measures of gambling problems were extracted and evaluated with respect to DSM-5 criteria and content overlap, leading to 17 candidate items. This was further reduced to 8 items based on both item content and psychometric criteria, using data from an online panel of 1524 regular gamblers, with demographic characteristics similar to Australian population norms. Participants also completed measures of harm, problems, and subjective wellbeing. All three hypotheses were confirmed. BD was shown to be highly reliable and unidimensional, and measurably distinct from gambling harms. Harm mediated the negative relationship between BD and wellbeing. The harm + BD model yielded better predictions of personal wellbeing that a unidimensional, continuous problems measure—and explained about twice the variance of a simple contrast between problem and non-problem gamblers. We conclude that is psychometrically justified to specifically measure gambling BD, and this may be of particular use in theoretically-driven applications. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

The dangers of conflating gambling-related harm with disordered gambling: Commentary on: Prevention paradox logic and problem gambling (Delfabbro & King, 2017)

In their critical review of the prevention paradox (PP) applied to gambling-related harm, Delfabbro and King (2017) raise a number of concerns regarding specific assumptions, methods, and findings as well as the general conceptual approach. Besides discussing the PP, the review also considers the merits of considering a "continuum of harm," as opposed to the more traditional categorical approach to classifying problem gamblers. Their critique is carefully modulated and balanced, and starts a useful dialogue in the context of a public health approach to gambling. Unfortunately, some of Delfabbro and King's (2017) arguments rest on the treatment of gambling harm as a binary state and conflates gambling-related harm with disordered gambling. In this reply, we argue that the application of PP logic to gambling harm has not yet been addressed by us, and is only indirectly related to the more important objective of understanding how gambling can reduce ones' quality of life. © 2017 The Author(s)

Prevalence of gambling-related harm provides evidence for the prevention paradox

Background: The prevention paradox (PP) describes a situation in which a greater number of cases of a disease-state come from low-risk members of a population, because they are more prevalent than high-risk members. Past research has provided only tangential and disputed evidence to support the application of the PP to gambling-related harm. Aims: To assess whether the PP applies to gambling, the prevalence of a large set (72) of diverse harmful consequences from gambling was examined across four risk categories for problem gambling, including no-risk, low-risk, moderate-risk, and problem-gambling. Methods: Respondents who had gambled on non-lottery forms in the past 6 months completed an online survey (N = 1,524, 49.4% male). The data were weighted to the known prevalence of gambling problems in the Victorian community. Results: The prevalence of gambling harms, including severe harms, was generally higher in the combined categories of lower risk categories compared to the high-risk problem-gambling category. There were some notable exceptions, however, for some severe and rare harms. Nevertheless, the majority of harms in the 72-item list, including serious harms such as needing temporary accommodation, emergency welfare assistance, experiencing separation or end of a relationship, loss of a job, needing to sell personal items, and experiencing domestic violence from gambling, were more commonly associated with lower risk gamblers. Conclusion: Many significant harms are concentrated outside the ranks of gamblers with a severe mental health condition, which supports a public-health approach to ameliorating gambling-related harm. © 2018 The Author(s