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24.01.2022 EGRL lab member Dr Alex Russell has been recognised with the CQUniversity Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research (Early Career). This tops off a stellar 2019 for Alex: he also won the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research (Early Career) and was recognised as one of the ABC Radio National Top 5 Scientists. Alex's work mostly focuses on how technology is changing the face of gambling, and who is most vulnerable. He is currently leading projects looking at new and emer...ging forms of gambling amongst young people in NSW and Victoria. He has also studied the roles of social influences in gambling, gambling-related stigma, wagering advertisements and inducements, risk factors for gambling-related problems and harm, and various other topics. 2019 has been a great year for the lab: promotions, awards, grant funding, publications and new members, and 2020 is shaping up to be amazing too. Watch this space!
24.01.2022 Did you know that it is legal to gamble in the UK on some forms of gambling? The National Lottery and Scratchcards can be entered by people who are 16 and older, and they even have special forms of pokies (Category D Fruit Machines) that can be used by people of any age. Turns out that underage use of these forms is associated with gambling-related problems in adulthood. EGRL Postdoc Dr Philip Newall has just published a pre-print here https://psyarxiv.com/72uav/ . He surveye...d 1,052 UK adults between 18 and 40 about their use of these forms of gambling during adolescence. He found that those who engaged in each of five forms of legal underage gambling more frequently were significantly more likely to have higher levels of gambling-related problems during adulthood. There are current proposals to raise the legal age from 16 to 18 for the National Lottery and Scratchcards. These results suggest that such changes might also be considered for the other forms of gambling in this study: coin push machines, crane grab machines and Category D Fruit Machines.
24.01.2022 Loot boxes: Are they grooming youth for gambling? Maybe! Our latest study found that 62 per cent of best-selling video games include loot boxes. We also found that young video gamers who buy loot boxes in video games are more likely to gamble in real life. We also found links between loot boxes, both free and paid versions, and gambling problems. The research was led by Prof Matthew Rockloff, and funded by the NSW Responsible Gambling Fund. You can read the full report here: http://acquire.cqu.edu.au:8080//bin4a6a8649-40b2-4635-83db
23.01.2022 The papers just keep on coming! "What Can be Done to Reduce the Public Stigma of Gambling Disorder? Lessons from Other Stigmatised Conditions" by Honours student Kirsten L Brown and Alex Russell. This is Kirsten's literature review from her thesis and, incredibly, it was accepted as is - no revisions! Super effort that.... Journal of Gambling Studies: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-019-09890-9 Read for free: rdcu.be/bQ375 And this is related to her previous paper, "Exploration of Intervention Strategies to Reduce Public Stigma Associated with Gambling Disorder." Read that one for free here: https://rdcu.be/bPk86
23.01.2022 Dr Alex Russell has been recognised with a NSW 2020 Young Tall Poppy award. Much of my success comes from working with fantastic mentors. Professor Nerilee Hing has been instrumental in my success, and the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory at CQUniversity has a fantastic, supportive culture, he said. I wouldn’t be where I am without all of the support that I’ve received from the people around me, especially my family, so thank you to everyone for helping me get her...e. https://www.cqu.edu.au//gambling-researcher-honoured-with-
22.01.2022 We all have concerns about pokies. Part of the issue is that winnings are automatically reinvested, and that their displays have very little information on them, making it hard for players to track their play. So we wondered what might happen if winnings went into a separate pot, and the interface gave more information about their play, like tracking their deposits over a session, and showing amount spent vs amount won (see photo - standard interface on top, our new informati...ve interface on the bottom). Result: Players kept track of their play better. Often, the only reason that players stop playing the pokies is because they have $0 remaining, meaning that they have spent all of their deposit AND their winnings. But if winnings are in a separate pot, and their available credits count down on each spin, then they will hit $0 earlier. In our interface, they were able to reinvest winnings, but they often did not. $0 remaining is a powerful quit cue, it seems. This information is tracked by a pokie anyway, so it's just a bit of programming to change the interface, rather than any substantial pokie machine overhauls. We know that pokies aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but this idea might help make them a little more safe for players. This was conducted in an online survey (and we'll be sharing the code on how to do it in an upcoming publication, so that others can play around with pokies too), so the obvious next step is to implement this in real pokies. Chris Byrne (Honours student) and Alex Russell have just published their findings in the Journal of Gambling Studies: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-019-09889-2 Read here: https://www.researchgate.net//335758113_Making_EGMs_Accoun
22.01.2022 I'm going to Melbourne soon! Hello Meat Maiden!
22.01.2022 EGRL member Matthew Browne has just returned from the World Health Organisation Meeting on Public Health Implications of Gambling and Gambling Disorder, held on 2-4 December 2019 in Istanbul. Matthew gave a presentation to over 200 delegates from representing 50 different nations. One of the big resolutions of the workshop was for CQU to lead the push to fully integrate assessment of gambling with the WHO Global Burden of Disease assessment done for other conditions like alco...hol and smoking. Exciting times ahead for the lab in this space!
21.01.2022 Check out Dr Alex Russell talking about his work (with Nerilee Hing, Erika Langham and Vijay Rawat) on how social influences normalise gambling behaviour, and gambling harm. https://youtu.be/-FUtI0OvA4g?t=1 Thanks to Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation for funding the work and posting the talk. Report: https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au//social-influences/
20.01.2022 The UK is unusual in that there are some legal forms of gambling available to people under 18, including the National Lottery, National Lottery scratchcards, crane grab machines, coin push machines, and even a special type of pokie (category D fruit machines). Dr Philip Newall, postdoc extraordinaire, led this just-published study which found a link between recalled legal underage engagement with these gambling forms and subsequent disordered gambling as an adult. And people who used them more frequently when underage were also more likely to experience gambling problems. Read for free in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions: https://akjournals.com//article-10.1556-2006.2020.00048.xml
20.01.2022 New article from the lab! "Thats what you get for waking up in Vegas: Fatigue and alcohol consumption are associated with the duration of gambling sessions" Those who gamble and drink more tend to sleep less, but that these habits don't just happen on days on which they gamble. They do all of these things on an ongoing basis, not just when they gamble. So this relationship is more likely to be due to factors related to the individual, rather than the context or the environm...ent. This relationship is a problem because fatigue and intoxication can impair decision-making and assessments of risk. It's a perfect storm for gambling harm. Read for free: https://jgi.camh.net/index.php/jgi/article/view/4050 by PhD student Hannah Thorne, Matthew Rockloff, Matthew Browne and Sally Ferguson.
20.01.2022 PhD student Tess Armstrong just won the CQUni Three Minute Thesis final! AND she took out the Peoples' Choice award! Massive congrats to Tess for putting in so much hard work preparing for this. She will celebrate tonight, and then go on to compete in the 2019 Asia-Pacific 3MT Finals on Friday 4th October against finalists from other universities in Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, North-East Asia and South-East Asia.... This also continues a great run by EGRL PhD students in the 3MT competition. More details on the competition are here: https://www.cqu.edu.au//winners-chosen-for-3mt-and-vyt-com
19.01.2022 What do we know about stigma and gambling problems? See Professor Nerilee Hing summarise the team's work in this three minute video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2bJJxSCHz4 Read the report here: https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au//the-stigma-of-pro/... Thanks again to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation for funding this work.
18.01.2022 Congrats to newly-minted Professor Matthew Browne on his promotion to full Professor! Matts work on gambling-related harm has been a paradigm shift for gambling research worldwide, and this work and global recognition played a large part in his promotion. Theres more great work to come on this topic, so watch this space!
18.01.2022 New paper on gambling / wagering inducements by the EGRL team! We asked 59 participants (49 gamblers, 10 non-gamblers) to watch four gambling ads, measuring eye fixations, electrodermal activity (arousal) and desire to take up the offer in the ad. The gamblers included some from each PGSI group (non-problem, low risk, moderate risk, problem). Eye-tracking: Reduced risk and cash back inducements had higher number of fixations (more attention) than better odds and bonus bet ind...ucements for all groups. Higher electrodermal activity (SCL/skin conductance level, or arousal) was associated with greater severity of gambling-related harm. Higher desire to take up offer was associated with higher electrodermal activity, and greater risk of gambling-related harm. We conclude that the desire to take up inducements is dependent on factors other than just mere exposure to the offers. Increased arousal appears to be a key factor. Regulators could consider which types of inducements should be allowed, given that some are more arousing. For more, see "Interest in inducements: A psychophysiological study on sports betting advertising" by Lisa Lole, Alex M T Russell, En Li, Hannah Thorne, Nancy Greer and Nerilee Hing. International Journal of Psychophysiology: https://www.sciencedirect.com//artic/pii/S0167876019305434 (read for free)
18.01.2022 A new study, led by the EGRL's Professor Nerilee Hing, has found that while gambling may not directly cause intimate partner violence (IPV), it exacerbates it in serious ways. Of course, this is a complex topic, so there's far more to the study than just this finding. For some details, please see the CQU news release here: https://www.cqu.edu.au//study-shows-economic-abuse-is-exac For the full details, please read the report: https://www.anrows.org.au//the-relationship-between-gambl/
18.01.2022 How can we reduce public stigma associated with gambling disorder? We tried three short intervention videos (contact, education, advocacy), and each reduced different aspects of stigma. Read for free here: rdcu.be/bPk86 or download pre-print here: https://www.researchgate.net//335329941_Exploration_of_Int
17.01.2022 New paper out today! "Hey Big Spender: An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Sports and Race Betting Expenditure by Gambler Characteristics" Amongst regular bettors, those classified as problem gamblers spend 4x (sports bettors) and 3x (race bettors) more than regular non-problem gamblers. For moderate risk gamblers, it's 3x (sports bettors) and 2x (race bettors) more. Read for free: https://jgi.camh.net/index.php/jgi/article/view/4051 (PDF coming soon)... Gambling expenditure is difficult to study, because we ask about things like average monthly $. BUT in this study, we surveyed 320 regular sports bettors and 402 regular race bettors every day or two over three weeks, to reduce recall bias. (Ecological momentary assessment) Higher expenditure was associated with: being male, higher disposable income, first betting at a younger age, higher % of bets online, having more accounts with different betting operators and betting when affected by alcohol. Journal: Journal of Gambling Issues The team: Nerilee Hing, Alex M T Russell, Anna Thomas, Rebecca Jenkinson
17.01.2022 CQU's new Post Doc, Dr Philip Newall, looks at gambling-marketing in soccer. Check it!: https://psyarxiv.com/ftr3p/
16.01.2022 You know those responsible gambling messages at the bottom of advertisements? The ones in tiny font? Like the one in the red box here? Yeah, it turns out no one really looks at those. You knew that, of course, but we ran an eye-tracking study to check it out anyway. Published today. Read here for free: https://akademiai.com/doi/pdf/10.1556/2006.8.2019.37... The team: Lisa Lole, En Li, Alex Russell, Nancy Greer, Hannah Thorne and Nerilee Hing. Funded by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation.
14.01.2022 New report from the lab! We looked at how Responsible Conduct of Gambling is operating in NSW. What are staff and management doing in venues, and how is training working? Thank you to one of the peer reviewers who said: "I consider this report to be one of the best reports I have read in the 'gambling space'." See here for the full report: https://www.responsiblegambling.nsw.gov.au//RCG-Report-for (Responsible Conduct of Gambling Study by Nerilee Hing, Alex M T Russell and ...Vijay Rawat, and commissioned by the NSW Responsible Gambling Fund.) Key findings NSW clubs and hotels use an informed choice approach to RCG (vs harm minimisation) Most employees reported that their venue implements regulated RCG practices but some were aware of illegal practices occurring. Employees reported being responsive to patrons asking for help for their gambling, but monitoring of self-exclusion has numerous deficiencies. Very few patrons directly ask for help for their gambling. Employees report regularly observing patrons showing signs of problem gambling, but rarely approach those who do not ask for help, or report them upwards. Genuine management commitment to patron welfare can improve some RCG practices, but these venues were reported to be in the minority. The current approach to RCG is having little positive impact on harm prevention or reduction. Other jurisdictions are increasingly moving towards a harm minimisation approach. Substantial changes to RCG practices and training in NSW are needed to meaningfully minimise gambling harm. Thank you to all the venue staff, management and directors who took part.
13.01.2022 The results from our Victorian population gambling and health study 2018-2019 have now been published! For a summary of the key findings, see here: https://responsiblegambling.vic.gov.au//victorian-populat/ One focus of these reports is the prevalence of problem gambling, which is largely unchanged since 2008, at 0.7% of the adult population. ... In line with our lab's focus, we also recognise that gambling harm occurs for people who are not classified as problem gamblers. Our findings indicate that approximately 330,000 Victorians who gamble (9.6%) experience at least one form of gambling-related harm. 70% of gambling harm is experience by people who are not classified as problem gamblers. Furthermore, approximately 300,000 Victorian adults (6.1%) are harmed by someone else's gambling. Congrats to Prof Matthew Rockloff and team for their work on this, and thanks to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation for funding the work and working with us, and to Engine for their assistance. And thanks, of course, to the participants who took part.
13.01.2022 PhD student Tess Armstrong has published the second paper from her PhD, along with supervisors Profs Matthew Rockloff, Matthew Browne and Alex Blaszczynski. Congrats Tess! Tess described her findings: Gamblers are notorious for thinking in ways that can contribute to risky gambling decisions. Erroneous gambling beliefs contribute to the development and maintenance of gambling problems by supporting gambling behaviour. Research in other fields of belief endorsement suggests t...hat simple interventions designed to encourage people to think more critically can change the strength with which non-evidence based or biased beliefs are endorsed. Our paper explores whether generalised analytical priming may also be effective in changing peoples irrational gambling beliefs and subsequently, their gambling intensity on a simulated pokie machine. Contrary to our expectations, we found that generalised interventions designed to elicit critical reflection may actually be counterproductive to generating safer gambling choices. Our results found that compared to a control group, those who were primed to think more analytically, were more likely to report greater positive expectations regarding the impact of gambling on their lives. These findings suggest that we need to be extremely careful when designing and implementing interventions designed to encourage safer decision making in gamblers. Our results demonstrate that poorly developed and tested interventions for gamblers may actually contribute to gambling-related harm, rather than working to reduce it. For more, see her article in the Journal of Gambling Studies: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-019-09910-8 Encouraging Gamblers to Think Critically Using Generalised Analytical Priming is Ineffective at Reducing Gambling Biases Image taken from: https://buffer.com//thinking-mistakes-8-common-mistakes-in
11.01.2022 Do us a solid! Please vote for your favourite graduate selfie! Hannah Thorne and Cailem Boyle are both looking so good! It's your call EGRL fanboys and girls: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RHDSelfie2020
11.01.2022 Please welcome the newest member of the EGRL, Dr Philip Newall! Dr Philip Newall completed a PhD in Economics at the University of Stirling in 2016. Philip then completed postdoctoral research fellowships at Technical University Munich and the University of Warwick before joining CQUniversity in October 2019. Practical experience informs Philips gambling research. Philip was previously a high-stakes online poker professional, and elite poker players consider Philips books t...o contain the most accurate advice that is currently available on how to play limit Texas holdem poker to a world-class standard. Dr Newalls research applies findings from behavioural science to gambling. Specifically, he has published research on how some industry practices work to disadvantage gamblers based on common probabilistic biases and decision making errors. We're excited that Philip has joined us and are looking forward to working together.
11.01.2022 Professor Matthew Browne is leading the way in changing how we think about gambling-related harm. Here he is talking about his work, funded by the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. It's a three-minute watch - just the thing for a Friday afternoon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsjzkY-nAfU
10.01.2022 PhD student Hannah Thorne is studying the relationship between gambling, sleep and alcohol. Her recent paper has been summarised here: https://bit.ly/2ZE8xNU Its a two-page summary in non-science speak. Just the thing for a cruisy weekend read!
10.01.2022 Dr Alex Russell has been named as a #STEMAmbassador for Science and Technology Australia. He'll be working with Zali Steggall to help bridge the gap between science and government in Australia. For more, click on the link below or see the CQUni news release here: https://www.cqu.edu.au//cquniversity-researcher-named-an-a
09.01.2022 Free spins make you quit early?!? Whaattt? https://www.researchgate.net//337882293_Free-Spins_Spur_Ga
09.01.2022 Have you ever wondered why some people and not others make seemingly irrational gambling decisions? A brand new paper led by PhD student Tess Armstrong argues that a persons preference for intuitively driven decision-making, rather than one founded on critical reflection, may cause people to make poor gambling choices. Research suggests that gamblers, particularly those who experience gambling problems, are more likely to favour intuitive styles of thinking. When applie...d to gambling, intuitive modes of thinking can result in the misapplication of theories regarding the natural world that generate biased interpretations of how gambling works. These interpretations are then used to inform gambling decisions, and since often these decisions align with gambling intentions, they are often readily accepted with very little critical reflection. Exposing common errors in gambling related decision-making and educating gamblers on how to make better choices is likely to reduce the tendency for gamblers to rely on intuitive modes of thinking when gambling. For more, click here (and contact us if you want the PDF): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-019-09927-z
09.01.2022 How do gambling-themed pokies apps affect real money gambling? Are mobile pokies apps the perfect substitute, or the perfect storm? Watch Prof Matthew Rockloff presenting this research, thanks to the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XKz6RyNmn0
05.01.2022 We've previously reported that texts and emails from gambling operators are very influential forms of advertising. But, what's in them? Lots of betting inducements.... 102 sports bettors and 110 race bettors sent us emails and texts they received during a week. Race bettors received more messages than sports bettors, and the messages were absolutely saturated with inducements to bet. Perhaps surprisingly, no relationship was found between message content and the betting behaviour of the recipient, either frequency of betting or PGSI status. However, we have previously found that people in higher PGSI groups have accounts with more operators, and therefore would receive more messages from different operators. "What's the message? A content analysis of emails and texts received from wagering operators during sports and racing events" by Vijay Rawat, Nerilee Hing and Alex Russell. Read here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-019-09896-3
05.01.2022 Resident esports guru Nancy Greer recently published a paper on the history of esports betting and skin gambling. Too busy to read a whole paper? No worries, here's a snapshot thanks to GREO: https://www.greo.ca//Greer%20et%20al%20(2019)_Esports%20be
05.01.2022 Keen to learn about esports and skin gambling? Check out Greer's new paper that lays it all out for you! https://jgi.camh.net/index.php/jgi/article/view/4059/4461
05.01.2022 Merry Xmas from our Melbourne crew!
03.01.2022 Today and tomorrow, residents of NSW will find a flyer in their mailbox, inviting 12-17 year olds to the Youth Video Gaming and Gambling Survey. We'd love to hear from all 12-17 year olds in NSW, whether they play video games or gamble, or not. The study is commissioned by the NSW Office of Responsible Gambling.
