Gambling on smartphones: A study of a potentially addictive behaviour in a naturalistic setting

Richard James; Claire O'Malley; Richard Tunney

doi:10.1159/000495663

Gambling on smartphones: A study of a potentially addictive behaviour in a naturalistic setting

Richard James
, Claire O'Malley
, Richard Tunney

College of Health and Life Sciences

University of Nottingham
University of Durham

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

68 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Smartphone users engage extensively with their devices, on an intermittent basis for short periods of time. These patterns of behaviour have the potential to make mobile gambling especially perseverative. This paper reports the first empirical study of mobile gambling in which a simulated gambling app was used to measure gambling behaviour in phases of acquisition and extinction. We found that participants showed considerable perseverance in the face of continued losses that were linearly related to their prior engagement with the app. Latencies between gambles were associated with the magnitude of reinforcement; more positive outcomes were associated with longer breaks between play and a greater propensity to end a gambling session. Greater latencies were associated with measurements of problem gambling, and perseverance with gambling-related cognitions and sensation-seeking behaviour.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	30-40
Number of pages	11
Journal	European Addiction Research
Volume	25
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1159/000495663
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2019

Bibliographical note

© 2019 The Author(s). This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (CC BY) (http://www.karger.com/Services/
Open Access License). Usage, derivative works and distribution are
permitted provided that proper credit is given to the author and the
original publisher.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Addiction
App
Behaviour
Gambling
Mobile phone

Access to Document

10.1159/000495663Licence: CC BY 3.0

Gambling on smartphones
© 2019 The Author(s). This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY) (http://www.karger.com/Services/ Open Access License). Usage, derivative works and distribution are permitted provided that proper credit is given to the author and the original publisher.
Final published version, 305 KBLicence: CC BY 3.0

Cite this

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AB - Smartphone users engage extensively with their devices, on an intermittent basis for short periods of time. These patterns of behaviour have the potential to make mobile gambling especially perseverative. This paper reports the first empirical study of mobile gambling in which a simulated gambling app was used to measure gambling behaviour in phases of acquisition and extinction. We found that participants showed considerable perseverance in the face of continued losses that were linearly related to their prior engagement with the app. Latencies between gambles were associated with the magnitude of reinforcement; more positive outcomes were associated with longer breaks between play and a greater propensity to end a gambling session. Greater latencies were associated with measurements of problem gambling, and perseverance with gambling-related cognitions and sensation-seeking behaviour.

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KW - Behaviour

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Gambling on smartphones: A study of a potentially addictive behaviour in a naturalistic setting

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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