Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Gambling Studies
Published in: Journal of Gambling Studies 4/2007

01-12-2007 | Original Paper

Lessons from the Grey Area: A Closer Inspection of At-risk Gamblers

Author: Ingeborg Lund

Published in: Journal of Gambling Studies | Issue 4/2007

Login to get access

Abstract

The study takes a closer look at at-risk gamblers, with the objective to see how they differ from no-risk gamblers. The data comes from a national gambling survey in 2002, and the age group is 15–74 years. The sample consists of 4188 current gamblers with no current gambling problems or pathology. The analysis includes cross-tabulations and a logistic regression. The results show that at-risk gamblers differed substantially from no-risk gamblers in terms of demographic characteristics, gambling behaviour and the presence of other assumed risk factors. Demographic segments with a higher risk of falling into the at-risk group are men, young people, divorced or single people, and non-western immigrants. Furthermore, gambling problems in the family, beginners luck and misconceptions about winning chances significantly increased the odds for at-risk gambling. The study concludes that at-risk gamblers deserve more attention from research, that their similarity with problem gamblers increases the likelihood that many of them will eventually develop a gambling problem, and that their tendency to be superstitious about winning chances might be exploited in preventive work.
Literature
Abbott, M. Do EGMs and problem gambling go together like a horse and carriage? Manuscript accepted by Gambling Research (in press).
Abbott, M., & Volberg, R. A. (2000). Taking the pulse on gambling and problem gambling in New Zealand:A report on phase one of the 1999 prevalence survey, report no three of the New Zealand gaming survey. Wellington, New Zealand: Department of internal affairs.
Benhsain, K., Taillefer, A., & Ladouceur, R. (2004). Awareness of independence of events and erroneous perceptions while gambling. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 399–404.
Black, D. W., Monahan, P. O., Temkit, M., & Shaw, M. (2006). A family study of pathological gambling. Psychiatric Research, 141(3), 295–303.
Bonke, J., & Borregaard, K. (2006). Ludomani i Danmark. Udbredelsen af pengespil og problemspillere (Ludomania in Denmark. The prevalence of gambling and problem gamblers). Copenhagen: Report from the Institute for Social Research.
Cornish, D. (1978). Gambling: A review of the literature and its implications for policy and research. Home office research study (Vol. 42), London: HMSO.
Delfabbro, P. (2004). The stubborn logic of regular gamblers: Obstacles and dilemmas in cognitive gambling research. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20(1), 1–21.CrossRef
Gerstein, D., Hoffmann, J., & Larison, C. et al. (1999). Gambling impact and behavior study. Report to the national gambling impact study commission, Chicago, USA: National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
Gøtestam, K.G., & Johansson, A. (2003). Characteristics of gambling and problematic gambling in the Norwegian context. A DSM-IV-based telephone interview study. Addictive Behaviours, 28, 189–197.CrossRef
Ilkas, H., & Turja, T. (2003). Penningspelsundersökning (Study of gambling). Helsinki, Finland: Ministry of Social and Health.
Johansson, A., & Götestam K. G. (2004). Risk factors for problematic gambling: A critical literature review. Research report from section for psychiatric and behavioural medicine. Trondheim, Norway: Department of Neuroscience, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Joukhador, J., Blaszczynski, A., & Maccallum, F. (2004). Superstitious beliefs in gambling among problem and non-problem gamblers: Preliminary data. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20(2), 171–180.CrossRef
Kavli, H, & Berntsen, W. (2005). Undersøkelse om pengespill. Spillevaner og spilleproblemer i befolkningen (Study of gambling, gambling habits and gambling problems in the population). Oslo, Norway: Report from MMI (Market and Media Institute.
Lesieur, H. R. (1994). Epidemiological surveys of pathological gambling: Critique and suggestions for modification. Journal of Gambling Studies 10(4), pp 385–398.CrossRef
Lund, I., & Nordlund, S. (2003). Pengespill og pengespillproblemer i Norge. (Gambling and problem gambling in Norway.) SIRUS report no 2. Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research.
Lund I. (2006). Gambling and problem gambling in Norway: What part does the gambling machine play? Addiction Research and Theory, 14(5), 1–17.CrossRef
Orford, J., Sproston, K., Erens, B., White, C., & Mitchell, L. (2003). Gambling and problem gambling in Britain. Hove and New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Rönnberg, S., Volberg, R. A., Abbott, M., Moore, L., Andrén, A., Munck, I., Jonsson, J., Nilsson, T., & Svensson, O. (1999). Spel och spelberoende i Sverige. (Gambling and problem gambling in Sweden) Rapport nr 3 i Folkhälsoinstitutets serie om spel och spelberoende, Stockholm, 1999.
Schrans, T. & Schellinck, T. (2004). 2003 Nova scotia gambling prevalence study. Nova Scotia Office of Health Promotion Final Report, Focal Research.
Shaffer, H. J., Hall, M. N., & Vander Bilt, J. (1997). Estimating the prevalence of disordered gambling behavior in the United States and Canada: A meta-analysis. Boston: Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.
SIRUS (2002). Gambling survey. Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, SIRUS.
Sproston, K., Erens, B., & Orford, J. (2000). gambling behaviour in britain. Results from the british gambling prevalence study. London: National Centre for Social Research.
The Norwegian Gaming and Foundation Authority (2006). http://​www.​lotteritilsynet.​no/​
Wiebe, J., Single, E. & Falowski-Ham, A. (2001). Measuring gambling and problem gambling in ontario. Ontario: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, Responsible Gambling Council.
Williams R. J., & Connolly, D. (2006). Does learning about the mathematics of gambling change gambling behavior? Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20(1), 62–68.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Lessons from the Grey Area: A Closer Inspection of At-risk Gamblers
Author
Ingeborg Lund
Publication date
01-12-2007
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Gambling Studies / Issue 4/2007
Electronic ISSN: 1573-3602
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-007-9058-4

Other articles of this Issue 4/2007

Journal of Gambling Studies 4/2007 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Adolescent Gambling and Coping within a Generalized High-risk Behavior Framework

Erratum

Perceived Availability, Risks, and Benefits of Gambling among College Students

Original Paper

Reward-Sensitivity, Inhibition of Reward-Seeking, and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Working Memory Function in Problem Gamblers not in Treatment

Original Paper

The Four Es 1-Year Later: A Tool for Predicting the Development of Gambling Problems

Original Paper

Perceived Availability, Risks, and Benefits of Gambling among College Students

Original Paper

Examining DSM-IV Criteria for Pathological Gambling: Psychometric Properties and Evidence from Cognitive Biases