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An Initial Investigation of Individual Rate-of-Play Preferences and Associations with EGM Gambling Behavior

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Abstract

Electronic gambling machines (EGMs) show a strong association with gambling problems. The high speed of gaming offered by modern EGMs allows playing numerous games in a short span of time, which is thought to contribute to attentional distraction, increased spending and prolonged play. However, the relationship between EGM speeds and potentially risk-related gambling behavior remains unclear. We introduce a novel approach to investigating the role of gaming speed in EGM gambling behavior by examining ‘individual rate-of-play’ (I-ROP) during simulated EGM gambling. A community sample of male regular gamblers (N = 72) played virtual slot machines in pairs offering sequentially adjusted game speeds towards the estimation of a behaviorally expressed preference speed, or I-ROP. This initial experiment aimed to explore the variability of I-ROPs during simulated EGM gambling, and examine behavior while playing EGMs at speeds relative to their I-ROP. Estimated I-ROPs ranged from less than one half second to over seven seconds and were negatively associated with cognitive ability, but not related to problem gambling severity, impulsiveness, or gambling-related cognitions. Subsequent gambling sessions on EGMs offering individually calibrated faster and slower gaming speeds were associated with greater and reduced risk-related gambling behaviors respectively. I-ROPs represent a potentially informative construct for exploring influences of gaming speed on gambling behavior, and may lend insight into potential risk-related behavior an individual vulnerability with respect to commercially available EGMs that warrants additional research.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Mark Plitt and Karolina Czarna for their assistance in conducting this research.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA; DA000167). Funding agencies were not involved in the study design, conduct or communication, and the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies. Research was conducted at the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry with approval from the University of Oxford Central University Research Ethics Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 1 Church Street, New Haven, CT, 06519, USA

    Patrick D. Worhunsky

  2. School of Psychology, Bangor University, Gwynedd, UK

    Robert D. Rogers

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  1. Patrick D. Worhunsky
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  2. Robert D. Rogers
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Correspondence to Patrick D. Worhunsky.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Dr. Rogers has held awards from the Responsible Gambling Trust (now GambleAware) and holds a consultancy agreement with Pfizer Inc.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Worhunsky, P.D., Rogers, R.D. An Initial Investigation of Individual Rate-of-Play Preferences and Associations with EGM Gambling Behavior. J Gambl Stud 34, 1067–1083 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-017-9737-8

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