Overtime: Long-Term Betting Trajectories Among Highly-Involved and Less-Involved Online Sports Bettors.

Online sports gambling involvement is discontinuous in nature, with small groups of highly involved gamblers exhibiting betting behavior that is distinctly greater than other gamblers. There is some question about whether these groups, defined by exceedingly high levels of play, also have equivalently high rates of gambling problems, and whether they maintain these play levels over time. The current study builds on past work by examining the long-term trajectories of play and voluntary self-exclusion patterns across two years among a cohort of 32,262 highly-involved and less-involved online sports gamblers. We also examine the relative importance of betting behavior change as a risk factor for gambling problems by testing whether high involvement as compared to escalation of involvement is a better predictor of future self-exclusion. Measures included betting activities, transactional activities, and self-exclusion activities on a European online betting platform between February 2015 and January 2017. Results showed that bettors who were most highly involved in the first 8 months of the study in terms of number of bets and net loss were more likely to continue gambling on the platform in months 9-24 than others. Bettors who were most highly involved in the first 8 months of the study in terms of net loss and amount wagered were more likely to use self-exclusion than others, and more likely to have multiple self-exclusions. Escalations in frequency of play and average bet size within the first 8 months emerged as significant predictors of self-exclusion, even when controlling for high involvement.

A meta-analytic investigation of problem gambling and self-harm: A causal inference perspective.

OBJECTIVE: Problem gambling may be an underappreciated treatment target for reducing self-harm. Multivariate studies examining the relationship between problem gambling and self-harm have returned inconsistent results, perhaps due to insufficient power or differences in study quality. METHOD: We conducted a series of meta-analyses examining the effect of problem gambling on self-harm outcomes of varying severity. We assessed the sensitivity of results to study characteristics, publication bias, and influential cases. To highlight threats to causal inference, we evaluated each study for residual confounding bias. RESULTS: In total, two types of meta-analyses were adequately powered: those assessing (a) the effect of problem gambling (binary) on suicide ideation and (b) problem gambling (binary) on suicide attempt (k = 14 unique studies between the two meta-analyses). For both meta-analyses, we found a positive, statistically significant average effect of problem gambling on the respective self-harm outcome. We did not detect any influential studies among these two meta-analyses, nor residual confounding. However, these findings are limited by the overall quality of included literature. PET-PEESE analysis detected substantial potential publication bias in the main results, with both meta-analytic effects being reduced to statistical nonsignificance. All included studies also used a cross-sectional design for their analysis of interest, thus simultaneity bias cannot be ruled out. CONCLUSION: While these findings suggest there is an appreciable relationship between problem gambling and at least two forms of self-harm (suicide ideation and attempts), well-designed longitudinal research is needed to make more firm conclusions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Second Session at the Virtual Poker Table: A Contemporary Study of Actual Online Poker Activity.

Technological advancements and worldwide television exposure led to a poker boom in the early 2000s, and poker (both live and online) has retained some of that popularity today. The present study examined online poker playing trends based on actual electronic betting records data for 2489 subscribers to a major global internet gambling operator from 2015 to 2017. We found that overall financial involvement (median total overall spend: €439.7) and time commitment (median number of sessions: 43) during the two-year study period were relatively moderate. We identified the top 1% by total overall spend as a subgroup of highly involved players with disproportionately higher financial involvement (median total overall spend: €272,581.4) and time commitment (median number of sessions: 1149). Our results were similar to those reported in LaPlante et al.'s (Comput Hum Behav 25(3):711-717, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.027 ) study of online poker betting records, suggesting that players' levels of involvement are similar to those from ten years ago despite numerous changes to the online poker environment. We also analyzed records of deposits and withdrawals, and we observed similar indicators of moderate gambling behavior within the overall sample (median two-year total amount deposited: €176.4). In contrast to popular beliefs about internet gambling, in our sample, most online poker play was arguably moderate. However, a small percentage of highly involved players play poker at extreme levels and require closer scrutiny.

Time out: Prediction of self-exclusion from daily fantasy sports.

OBJECTIVE: Responsible gambling (RG) tools that include play management software, self-limit features, and self-exclusion are relatively common offerings on major online gambling platforms. However, how online gaming and daily fantasy sports (DFS) players use such tools is less clear. The goals of this article were to understand how players use self-exclusion at a major DFS platform and to identify DFS activity-related predictors of self-exclusion. METHOD: During November 2015, DraftKings, a major DFS provider, rolled out a self-exclusion feature that allows players to self-exclude from the platform for a specified amount of time, up to 5 years. We used player records from DraftKings, examining play patterns and self-exclusion across 3 + years of data. RESULTS: We found that less than 0.5% of subscribers in our sample self-excluded during the study period and almost one third of those who self-excluded did so more than once. In general, self-excluders engaged with a greater variety of contests and sports and entered contests with higher entry fees than those who did not self-exclude. Repeat self-excluders selected shorter initial self-exclusion terms and also engaged with a greater variety of game types and sports than one-time self-excluders. However, self-excluders did not engage in riskier contests or experience higher percent losses. CONCLUSION: Our findings have implications for our understanding of RG feature use among DFS subscribers and markers of risk for experiencing problems with DFS and gambling more generally. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Using "Markers of Harm" to Track Risky Gambling in Two Cohorts of Online Sports Bettors.

Online gambling poses novel risks for problem gambling, but also unique opportunities to detect and intervene with at-risk users. A consortium of gambling companies recently committed to using nine behavioral "Markers of Harm'' that can be calculated with online user data to estimate risk for gambling-related harm. The current study evaluates these markers in two independent samples of sports bettors, collected ten years apart. We find over a two-year period that most users never had high enough overall risk scores to indicate that they would have received an intervention. This observation is partly due to characteristics of our samples that are associated with lower risk for gambling-related harm, but might also be due to overly high risk thresholds or flaws in the design of some markers. Users with higher average risk scores had more intraindividual variability in risk scores. Younger age and male gender were not associated with higher average risk scores. The most active users were more likely than other users to have ever exceeded risk thresholds. Several risk scores significantly predicted proxies of gambling-related harm (e.g., account closure). Overall, the current Markers of Harm system has some correctable limitations that future risk detection systems should consider adopting.

Changes to the playing field: A contemporary study of actual European online sports betting.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Online sports wagering is a popular and still growing gambling activity around the world. Like other types of gambling, it can lead to problems that include devastating financial, social, and health-related harms. The first analysis of actual online sports wagering activity (LaBrie et al., 2007) suggested that levels of financial and time involvement were more moderate than anticipated from earlier self-report studies. However, these findings are now more than a decade old. METHODS: The current study examined actual online sports wagering activity of a similar cohort of 32,262 gamblers who subscribed to a European online betting platform in February 2015 to understand how sports betting might have changed in ten years. Measures included subscriber characteristics, betting activities, and transactional activities. RESULTS: Players placed a median of 15 bets during the 8-month study period, made a median of 2.5 bets per betting day, had a median bet size of 6.1 euros, and experienced a median net loss of 25 euros. We were able to distinguish highly involved bettors in the top 2% of total wagered, net loss, and number of bets, whose behavior differed from that of the rest of the sample. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Sports wagering behavior has remained relatively stable over time despite legislative changes and an increase in popularity, with a small subset of subscribers exhibiting disproportionately high engagement, transactional activity, and in-game betting. Further investigation of individual trajectories of wagering behavior and engagement with different types of sports wagering products is merited.

Responsible product design to mitigate excessive gambling: A scoping review and z-curve analysis of replicability.

OBJECTIVES: Systematic mapping of evaluations of tools and interventions that are intended to mitigate risks for gambling harm. DESIGN: Scoping Review and z-curve analysis (which estimates the average replicability of a body of literature). SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched 7 databases. We also examined reference lists of included studies, as well as papers that cited included studies. Included studies described a quantitative empirical assessment of a game-based (i.e., intrinsic to a specific gambling product) structural feature, user-directed tool, or regulatory initiative to promote responsible gambling. At least two research assistants independently performed screening and extracted study characteristics (e.g., study design and sample size). One author extracted statistics for the z-curve analysis. RESULTS: 86 studies met inclusion criteria. No tools or interventions had unambiguous evidence of efficacy, but some show promise, such as within-session breaks in play. Pre-registration of research hypotheses, methods, and analytic plans was absent until 2019, reflecting a recent embracement of open science practices. Published studies also inconsistently reported effect sizes and power analyses. The results of z-curve provide some evidence of publication bias, and suggest that the replicability of the responsible product design literature is uncertain but could be low. CONCLUSION: Greater transparency and precision are paramount to improving the evidence base for responsible product design to mitigate gambling-related harm.

A large-scale prospective study of big wins and their relationship with future financial and time involvement in actual daily fantasy sports contests.

OBJECTIVE: Early big wins might have a psychological impact upon gamblers that increases their likelihood of intemperate gambling; however, there has been a paucity of empirical research examining this effect using actual gambling data. METHOD: We assessed the effects of daily fantasy sports (DFS) big wins on subsequent play by analyzing a prospective dataset from a major DFS provider (N = 34,596 DFS subscribers) representing over 18 million entries into DFS contests. RESULTS: We found that experiencing a big win in DFS is associated with subsequently increased DFS engagement (i.e., increased contest entry fees and contest entries) and losses (i.e., higher net loss). However, the effect of a big win on engagement and losses decays over time. Whereas theorists have highlighted the effects of early big wins, our analyses indicated that later big wins had a relatively stronger effect on DFS engagement. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of most results, with somewhat greater support for big wins' effects on engagement metrics than losses. CONCLUSION: Our results collectively indicate the existence of a big win effect in DFS. For some players, big wins might instill unrealistic expectations about future probabilities of winning and lead to increased-and potentially excessive-engagement. Explanations from cognitive psychology (e.g., the illusion of control) and behavioral psychology (e.g., operant conditioning) might help to explain the big win effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining Player Engagement with and Attitudes Toward a Gambling Play Management System.

Play management systems are prevention tools designed to help people who gamble avoid intemperate gambling outcomes by staying within predetermined budgets. This study examined gaming patrons' reported use of and attitudes towards the PlayMyWay play management system. We report upon the results of a survey of 1951 Marquee Rewards cardholders, including 153 individuals who were currently or previously enrolled in PlayMyWay. Users who did not enroll in PlayMyWay, despite knowing about it, typically said they did so because they believed that they did not need reminders and warnings about gambling. Although PlayMyWay users generally found the system easy to use, most reported that they paid little attention to notifications and tended to react negatively to them. Users who screened positive on the Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen were more likely to un-enroll from PlayMyWay, were less likely to report that they heeded notifications, and were more likely to respond negatively to notifications than users who screened negative. To improve the efficacy of PlayMyWay and similar play management systems, we recommend enhancing or adjusting on-machine messaging and highlighting additional features, such as play-tracking mechanisms, which could help to emphasize the idea that budget self-tracking is for everyone, not just people who might have gambling-related problems. Future research on play management systems should attempt to understand how to make budget compliance aspects of play management more effective.

The control of nocifensive movements in the caterpillar Manduca sexta.

In response to a noxious stimulus on the abdomen, caterpillars lunge their head towards the site of stimulation. This nocifensive 'strike' behavior is fast (∼0.5 s duration), targeted and usually unilateral. It is not clear how the fast strike movement is generated and controlled, because caterpillar muscle develops peak force relatively slowly (∼1 s) and the baseline hemolymph pressure is low (<2 kPa). Here, we show that strike movements are largely driven by ipsilateral muscle activation that propagates from anterior to posterior segments. There is no sustained pre-strike muscle activation that would be expected for movements powered by the rapid release of stored elastic energy. Although muscle activation on the ipsilateral side is correlated with segment shortening, activity on the contralateral side consists of two phases of muscle stimulation and a marked decline between them. This decrease in motor activity precedes rapid expansion of the segment on the contralateral side, presumably allowing the body wall to stretch more easily. The subsequent increase in contralateral motor activation may slow or stabilize movements as the head reaches its target. Strike behavior is therefore a controlled fast movement involving the coordination of muscle activity on each side and along the length of the body.

Understanding the Relation Between Social Behaviors and Daily Fantasy Sports Risk Behavior.

In daily fantasy sports (DFS) contests, participants form a roster of athletes scheduled to perform in a pre-determined list of sporting contests or games. Each participant has the opportunity to win cash prizes, depending on the performance of the athletes on their roster and the performances of the athletes on the other participants' rosters. Some contests have higher variances than others (i.e., lower percentages of participants winning and higher payouts versus higher percentages of participants winning and lower payouts) and can be considered riskier propositions. DFS operators have mechanisms for interacting with friends on their servers (e.g., referral programs and incentives, friend lists, private contests). To determine whether use of these mechanisms (i.e., social behavior) was associated with preference for higher variance contests (i.e., risk behavior), we analyzed player records (N = 11,130) from a DFS service. We constructed a measure of risk behavior, player risk score, that is based on DFS contests' entry fees and payout structures. We observed that players referred to the DFS service by a friend and those who had a reciprocal friendship had similar player risk scores. However, those who referred a friend, both generally and among players with reciprocal friendships, were more likely than others to have greater player risk scores, and greater numbers of friend referrals also was associated with higher player risk scores. Although the observed effect sizes were small, the results point to a possible relationship between referring others to play and risk activity. Future research should assess how these small effects interact with other behaviors and motivations associated with DFS play, like playing to escape or playing to earn/win money. It also should examine the temporal relationships between refer-a-friend program participation and risk content choices.

Patterns of Daily Fantasy Sport Play: Tackling the Issues.

Daily fantasy sports (DFS), a rapidly growing industry, allows players to create fantasy teams of real-life players and potentially win cash prizes, derived from entry fees. Some stakeholders have expressed concern that DFS's accelerated nature and other features might promote excessive play and related harm. We conducted the first descriptive summary of actual DFS play using records from a cohort of subscribers to a dominant operator, DraftKings. Participants (N = 10,385) initially entered paid National Football League (NFL) contests. Across all participants, players entered a median of two contests per entry day and typically submitted a single entry for each contest they entered. Players paid a median of $87 in entry fees throughout the 2014 NFL season and experienced an overall median net loss of $30.7. However, we identified heavily involved sub-groups of players based on number of contests entered, total entry fees, and net loss. These top 1% groups were less likely to restrict themselves to NFL games, exhibited greater time involvement, but also won a greater percentage of the contests they entered than typical players. Our observations of typical and heavily involved players tend to mirror those generated in previous Internet sports gambling research.