The effects of alcohol on gambling biases and decisions

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Author(s): Tobias-Webb, Juliette ; Limbrick-Oldﬁeld, Eve H. ; Clark, Luke ; Vearncomb, Silvia ; Duka, Theodora

Journal: Psychopharmacology

Year Published: 2019

Date Added: February 07, 2020

This research examined how alcohol impacts certain cognitive biases that may affect gambling behaviour. The researchers recruited male participants and divided them into two groups: an experimental group that received alcohol and a control group that received a placebo. Afterwards, participants played a roulette task. The findings revealed that betting behaviour (colour choice) was affected by the gambler’s fallacy, especially when longer run of the same colour occurred. But this also depended on whether participants experienced wins or losses. There was also an increase of bet size in the alcohol group when they experienced losses. This suggested that loss chasing might increase after alcohol consumption.

Citation: Tobias-Webb, J., Limbrick-Oldfield, E. H., Vearncombe, S., Duka, T., & Clark, L. (2019). The effects of alcohol on sequential decision-making biases during gambling. Psychopharmacology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05376-z

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05376-z

Keywords: alcohol ; chasing losses ; cognitive distortions ; gambling ; roulette

Topics: Comorbidities ; Substance Use

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

Study Design: Experimental: RCT (randomized controlled trial)

Geographic Coverage: United Kingdom

Study Population: 46 male student participants (average age=22.7 years) who ranged from 19-30 years old. Participants were social drinkers (defined as consuming at least one alcoholic drink per week) and recreational gamblers (defined as having gambled at least once in the past year). Based on the PGSI, 16 people were classified as non-problem gamblers, 19 as low-risk gamblers, and 11 as moderate-risk gamblers.

Sampling Procedure: The researchers used a convenience sampling and recruited participants from a university via university advertisement

Study Funding:

No source of funding was declared for this study.