Impulsive decision making, executive functions, and changes in gambling disorder symptoms in people who bet on sports online

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Author(s): Wirkus, Theresa ; Czernecka, Robert ; Bühringer, Gerhard ; Kräplin, Anja

Journal: Scientific Reports

Year Published: 2026

Date Added: August 04, 2026

The purpose of this study was to examine how changes in gambling disorder (GD) symptoms over time were associated with executive functions and decision-making processes in people who bet on sports online. Data came from 54 German adults who completed an online survey and an in-person assessment that took place an average of 443 days later. Overall, participants with more GD symptoms showed poorer working memory and reduced loss aversion (i.e., less sensitive to potential losses). Reduced loss aversion was also linked to an increase in GD symptoms over time. However, these findings were not statistically significant after correcting for the false discovery rate and should be interpreted with caution.

Citation: Wirkus, T., Czernecka, R., Bühringer, G., & Kräplin, A. (2026). The relationship between executive functions, decision-making, and changes in symptoms of gambling disorder in online sports bettors. Scientific Reports, 16, 12076. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48449-8

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48449-8

Keywords: decision making ; executive function ; gambling disorder ; impulsivity

Topics: Gambling and the Brain ; Impulsivity

Conceptual Framework Factors: Psychological Factors ; Psychological - Judgement and Decision Making

Study Design: Observational: Cohort

Geographic Coverage: Germany

Study Population: Adults (aged 18–55 years) residing in Germany who have gambled with Tipico, an international gambling provider (n=54)

Sampling Procedure: Tipico, an international gambling provider, shared anonymized player tracking data from its German customer database. Customers were first classified by the provider’s artificial intelligence risk-detection algorithm based on indicators of risky gambling behaviours. A nested subsample was then invited to complete an in-person assessment.

Study Funding:

Open Access funding provided by Projekt Deal. This research was supported by a research donation to the TUD Dresden University of Technology, provided by Tipico. Partial funding for manuscript writing was received from the DFG as part of the TRR 265.