Request-a-bet sports betting products indicate patterns of bettor preference and bookmaker profits

Skill-Based Electronic Gaming Machines: Features that Mimic Video Gaming, Features that could Contribute to Harm, and Their Potential Attraction to Different Groups

New gambling products have been developed over time as technology permits. For example, early mechanical slot machines were later replaced by electronic gaming machines (EGMs), which enabled a faster speed of play and more immersive experience. EGMs have in the decades since their invention become one of the main drivers of gambling expenditure worldwide and are one of the gambling products most strongly associated with harm. This literature review considers research relevant to a new subcategory of EGM, 'skill-based' EGMs, termed 'SGMs' here. SGMs can be highly varied in content, with some representing a minimal departure from EGMs, where the typical bonus round is replaced by some skill-based activity, such as a simple video game, which could increase the machine's appeal. Other SGMs feature more radical departures from conventional EGMs, such as multiplayer games using intellectual property from popular TV shows or video games. These skill-based elements could tap into common gambling fallacies such as the illusion of control, and therefore facilitate harmful engagement. SGMs could also be less harmful than current EGMs, if skill-based elements break the dissociative states associated with EGM gambling. The intellectual property used in SGMs may increase their appeal among people who generally do not gamble, and the skill-based elements could increase their interest among gamblers who predominately prefer skill-based gambling formats such as sports betting. The novelty and varied content of SGMs present many open questions, which research should aim to address in future.

‘Immediate access … everywhere you go’: a Grounded Theory Study of How Smartphone Betting Can Facilitate Harmful Sports Betting Behaviours Amongst Young Adults

This study explored how the use of smartphones can influence sports betting by young adults, compared to using computers and land-based betting facilities. Interviews with 33 Australians aged 18–29 years, who bet regularly on sports, esports, and/or fantasy sports, were analysed using adaptive grounded theory. Seven major themes related to platform functionality, sourcing betting information, physical accessibility, financial accessibility, social influences, privacy, and marketing. The grounded theory model depicts how features of smartphones, online gambling, and betting apps combine in smartphone betting to provide instantaneous access to betting, anywhere and at any time, to facilitate harmful betting behaviours. These behaviours included increased betting participation, frequency and expenditure, placing a wider variety of bets, impulsive and spontaneous betting, placing riskier bets with longer odds, chasing losses, and acting on social encouragement to bet. These findings can inform harm minimisation measures, regulation, and policy.

The Gamblification of Investing: How a New Generation of Investors Is Being Born to Lose

Investing and gambling share key features, in that both involve risk, the coming together of two or more people, and both are voluntary activities. However, investing is generally a much better way than gambling for the average person to make long-run profits. This paper reviews evidence on two types of “gamblified” investment products where this advantage does not hold for investing: high-frequency stock trading and high-risk derivatives. This review defines a gamblified investment product as one that leads most investors to lose, that attracts people at risk of experiencing gambling-related harm, and that utilizes product design principles from gambling (either by encouraging a high frequency of use or by providing the allure of big lottery-like wins). The gamblification of investing produces novel challenges for the regulation of both financial markets and gambling.

Conceptualising emotional and cognitive dysregulation amongst sports bettors; an exploratory study of ‘tilting’ in a new context

Tilting is a poker-related phenomenon that involves cognitive and emotional dysregulation in response to unfavourable gambling outcomes. Tilting is characterised by an increase in irrational, impulsive and strategically weak betting decisions. This study aimed to adapt and investigate the concept of tilting amongst sport bettors in order to provide preliminary insight regarding previously unexplored instances of maladaptive sports betting. The sample consisted of 225 sports bettors who completed an online questionnaire that investigated their reported tilting episodes, awareness of tilting, impulsivity, perceived skill, gambling severity, gambling frequency, and product preferences. Cluster analyses revealed three distinct groups of sports bettors based on their reported tilting episodes and their awareness of this phenomenon. The first group were labelled ‘Conscious tilters’ due to being cognizant of their own tilting occurrence which was significantly higher than the other two groups. These ‘Conscious tilters’ had the highest mean problem gambling severity that was indicative of the ‘problem gambler’ categorisation. The second group were labelled ‘Unconscious tilters’ due to their underestimation of their own tilting occurrence and were categorised as ‘moderate risk gamblers’. The third group were labelled ‘Non-tilters’ due to a relatively accurate perception of their low to non-existent tilting occurrence and were categorised as ‘low-risk gamblers’. Additionally, there were significant differences between these groups in relation to reported gambling frequency, impulsivity, and product preferences. There is evidence of various classifications of ‘tilters’ within sports betting. Specific sports betting product features may also facilitate tilting and therefore require further research in this context. It is important for this research area to develop in order to mitigate harms associated with the rapidly changing sport betting environment.

Problem Gambling 'Fuelled on the Fly'

Problem gambling is a gambling disorder often described as continued gambling in the face of increasing losses. In this article, we explored problem gambling behaviour and its psychological determinants. We considered the assumption of stability in risky preferences, anticipated by both normative and descriptive theories of decision making, as well as recent evidence that risk preferences are in fact 'constructed on the fly' during risk elicitation. Accordingly, we argue that problem gambling is a multifaceted disorder, which is 'fueled on the fly' by a wide range of contextual and non-contextual influences, including individual differences in personality traits, hormonal and emotional activations. We have proposed that the experience of gambling behaviour in itself is a dynamic experience of events in time series, where gamblers anchor on the most recent event-typically a small loss or rare win. This is a highly adaptive, but erroneous, decision-making mechanism, where anchoring on the most recent event alters the psychological representations of substantial and accumulated loss in the past to a representation of negligible loss. In other words, people feel better while they gamble. We conclude that problem gambling researchers and policy makers will need to employ multifaceted and holistic approaches to understand problem gambling.

The Use of Social Media in Research on Gambling: a Systematic Review

Purpose of Review

Social media enables a range of possibilities in the way gamblers and gambling operators interact and content communicate with gambling. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesise the extant literature to identify the ways in which social media has been investigated in the context of gambling.

Recent Findings

A systematic review of the literature identified 41 papers that collected primary data pertinent to gambling and social media from multiple disciplines. These papers broadly fell into three themes: communication, community and calculation (of sentiment). Papers on communication focused on the content of gambling advertising on social media and the impact on people exposed to it. Studies of gambling communities studied the activity and structures of discussion groups on social media concerning recreational or problematic gambling. Papers on calculation collated social media data to assess sentiment and compared it against betting odds.

Summary

There is an emerging multidisciplinary literature that has looked at the use of social media in relation to gambling. There is preliminary evidence that the content and the reach of gambling advertising on social media is a source of concern, particularly for younger people. The themes discussed on gambling support forums appear to be common across communities, focusing on negative emotions, recovery, addictive products and financial support. Using social media to assess sentiment appears to be particularly effective at identifying potential upsets in sporting matches. Future suggestions for research are explored.