Dataset Information

The effects of a mandatory play break on subsequent gambling among Norwegian video lottery terminal players.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Responsible gambling (RG) tools and initiatives have been introduced by social RG operators as a means to help prevent problem gambling. One such initiative is the use of mandatory play breaks (i.e., forced session terminations). Recommendations by RG experts for gambling operators to implement mandatory play breaks appear to be intuitively sensible but are not evidence-based. METHODS:The present authors were given access by the Norwegian gambling operator Norsk Tipping to data from 7,190 video lottery terminal (VLT) players who gambled between January and March 2018. This generated 218,523 playing sessions for further analysis. Once a gambling session reaches a 1-hr play duration, a forced session termination of 90 s comes into effect. This study evaluated the effect of mandatory play breaks on subsequent gambling. RESULTS:Compared to similar sessions identified using a matched-pairs design, results demonstrated that there was no significant effect of the forced termination regarding the amount of money staked in the subsequent gambling session or on the time duration of the subsequent gambling session. CONCLUSIONS:Although expenditure was higher in the subsequent 24 hr for terminated sessions, this is likely due to higher intensity gamblers being more likely to trigger mandatory breaks. Implications of these findings are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Auer M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7044625 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The effects of a mandatory play break on subsequent gambling among Norwegian video lottery terminal players.

Auer Michael M Hopfgartner Niklas N Griffiths Mark D MD

Journal of behavioral addictions 20190920 3

<h4>Background and aims</h4>Responsible gambling (RG) tools and initiatives have been introduced by social RG operators as a means to help prevent problem gambling. One such initiative is the use of mandatory play breaks (i.e., forced session terminations). Recommendations by RG experts for gambling operators to implement mandatory play breaks appear to be intuitively sensible but are not evidence-based.<h4>Methods</h4>The present authors were given access by the Norwegian gambling operator <i>N ...[more]

PMID: 31537088

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:Individuals who gamble online may be at risk of gambling excessively, but internet gambling also provides a unique opportunity to monitor gambling behavior in real environments which may allow intervention for those who encounter difficulties. OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study was to model the early gambling trajectories of individuals who play online lottery. METHODS:Anonymized gambling-related records of the initial 6 months of 1152 clients of the French national lottery who created their internet gambling accounts between September 2015 and February 2016 were analyzed using a two-step approach that combined growth mixture modeling and latent class analysis. The analysis was based upon behavior indicators of gambling activity (money wagered and number of gambling days) and indicators of gambling problems (breadth of involvement and chasing). Profiles were described based upon the probabilities of following the trajectories that were identified for the four indicators, and upon several covariates (age, gender, deposits, type of play, net losses, voluntary self-exclusion, and Playscan classification-a responsible gambling tool that provides each player with a risk assessment: green for low risk, orange for medium risk and red for high risk). Net losses, voluntary self-exclusion, and Playscan classification were used as external verification of problem gambling. RESULTS:We identified 5 distinct profiles of online lottery gambling. Classes 1 (56.8%), 2 (14.8%) and 3 (13.9%) were characterized by low to medium gambling activity and low values for markers of problem gambling. They displayed low net losses, did not use the voluntary self-exclusion measure, and were classified predominantly with green Playscan tags (range 90%-98%). Class 4 (9.7%) was characterized by medium to high gambling activity, played a higher breadth of game types (range 1-6), and had zero to few chasing episodes. They had high net losses but were classified with green (66%) or orange (25%) Playscan tags and did not use the voluntary self-exclusion measure. Class 5 (4.8%) was characterized by medium to very high gambling activity, played a higher breadth of game types (range 1-17), and had a high number of chasing episodes (range 0-5). They experienced the highest net losses, the highest proportion of orange (32%) and red (39%) tags within the Playscan classification system and represented the only class in which voluntary self-exclusion was present. CONCLUSIONS:Classes 1, 2, 3 may be considered to represent recreational gambling. Class 4 had higher gambling activity and higher breadth of involvement and may be representative of players at risk for future gambling problems. Class 5 stood out in terms of much higher gambling activity and breadth of involvement, and the presence of chasing behavior. Individuals in classes 4 and 5 may benefit from early preventive measures.

Project description:Importance:Poor health and unhealthy lifestyles are substantially more prevalent among individuals with low income than among individuals with high income, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Objective:To evaluate whether changes to unearned wealth from lotteries are associated with long-term health behaviors and overall health. Design, Setting, and Participants:In this quasi-experimental cohort study, 4820 participants (aged 18-70 years at the time of winning) in 3 Swedish lotteries were surveyed from September 1, 2016, to November 11, 2016, between 5 and 22 years after a lottery event. Outcomes of participants in the same lottery who were randomly assigned prizes of different magnitudes by the lotteries but were ex ante identical in terms of their probability of winning different prizes were compared. Data were analyzed from December 22, 2016, to November 21, 2019. Exposures:Lottery prizes ranged from $0 for nonwinning players to $1.6 million. Main Outcomes and Measures:Four lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and a healthy diet index) and 2 measures of overall health (subjective health and an index of total health derived from responses to questions about 35 health conditions). Results:The survey was returned by 3344 of 4820 individuals (69%; 1722 [51.5%] male), which corresponded to 3362 observations. The mean (SD) age was 48 (11.8) years in the year of the lottery win and 60 (11.0) years at the time of the survey. There were no statistically significant associations between prize amount won and any of the 6 long-term health outcomes. Estimated associations expressed in SD units per $100 000 won were as follows: smoking (-0.006, 95% CI, -0.038 to 0.026); alcohol consumption (0.003, 95% CI, -0.027 to 0.033); physical activity (0.001, 95% CI, -0.029 to 0.032); dietary quality (-0.007, 95% CI, -0.040 to 0.026); subjective health (0.013, 95% CI, -0.017 to 0.043); and index of total health (-0.003, 95% CI, -0.033 to 0.027). Conclusions and Relevance:In this study of Swedish lottery players, unearned wealth from random lottery prize winnings was not associated with subsequent healthy lifestyle factors or overall health. The findings suggest that large, random transfers of unearned wealth are unlikely to be associated with large, long-term changes in health habits or overall health.

Project description:Continued gambling to recover losses--'loss chasing'--is a prominent feature of social and pathological gambling. However, little is known about the neuromodulators that influence this behavior. In three separate experiments, we investigated the role of serotonin activity, D(2)/D(3) receptor activity, and beta-adrenoceptor activity on the loss chasing of age and IQ-matched healthy adults randomized to treatment or an appropriate control/placebo. In Experiment 1, participants consumed amino-acid drinks that did or did not contain the serotonin precursor, tryptophan. In Experiment 2, participants received a single 176 ?g dose of the D(2)/D(3) receptor agonist, pramipexole, or placebo. In Experiment 3, participants received a single 80 mg dose of the beta-adrenoceptor blocker, propranolol, or placebo. Following treatment, participants completed a computerized loss-chasing game. Mood and heart rate were measured at baseline and following treatment. Tryptophan depletion significantly reduced the number of decisions made to chase losses, and the number of consecutive decisions to chase, in the absence of marked changes in mood. By contrast, pramipexole significantly increased the value of losses chased and diminished the value of losses surrendered. Propranolol markedly reduced heart rate, but produced no significant changes in loss-chasing behavior. Loss chasing can be thought of as an aversively motivated escape behavior controlled, in part, by the marginal value of continued gambling relative to the value of already accumulated losses. Serotonin and dopamine appear to play dissociable roles in the tendency of individuals to gamble to recover, or to seek to 'escape' from, previous losses. Serotonergic activity seems to promote the availability of loss chasing as a behavioral option, whereas D(2)/D(3) receptor activity produces complex changes in the value of losses judged worth chasing. Sympathetic arousal, at least as mediated by beta-adrenoceptors, does not play a major role in laboratory-based loss-chasing choices.

Dataset Information

The effects of a mandatory play break on subsequent gambling among Norwegian video lottery terminal players.

Publications

The effects of a mandatory play break on subsequent gambling among Norwegian video lottery terminal players.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets