Roulette gamblers and gamblers at electronic game machines: Where are the differences?

Abstract

In an unselected group of 46 excessive gamblers who came for psychiatric help or for an expert opinion on legal responsibility, two different groups of gamblers are compared: roulette gamblers and those who played at German-style slot machines. In all excessive gamblers, childhood developmental limitations as well as disorders in the ability to form and maintain partner relationships in later life were frequent; at the same time the childhood conditions and their life histories are diverse. The spectrum of observed psychiatric disorders is rather wide. Gamblers at electronic game machines began to play at an average age of 19 years; they more often belong to the lower classes and show depressive and reactive disorders more frequently. Roulette gamblers began to gamble excessively on average nine years later than other gamblers; they showed signs of personality disorders, especially narcissistic and cyclothymic patterns, significantly more often. Anti-social behavior and delinquency before the onset of excessive gambling were frequent in both groups.