Thesis "Gambling and its consequences - qualitative research of pathological gamblers" is discussing gambling as a present phenomenon and about the effects of gambling on gamblers and his environment in different aspects of his life. Theoretical part provides the introduction to this problem, specification of definitions and also particular impact of gambling on itself, namely health, social, criminal law and last but not least, financial consequences. The practical part deals with stories of abstaining gamblers and their subjectively perceived impacts of gambling on their lives, hindering factors in the development of addiction and factors facilitating entering to the treatment.

Post-reinforcement pause was examined to determine the reinforcing value of a win, loss, and a loss disguised as a win (LDW) for gamblers at multi-line video slot machines. The study was conducted in naturalistic settings across a variety of participants, age 21 years and older. The length of the post-reinforcement pause was recorded using a stopwatch for one win, one loss, and one LDW for each participant and was measured by recording the time between the outcome delivery and the initiation of the next spin. The different times were evaluated to determine which of the three resulted in the longest post-reinforcement pause for the gamblers following the slot machine outcome. The present study replicates and extends previous research on post-reinforcement pause in slot machine gambling, and provides discussion around the clinical utility of such findings on the prevention of problem gambling. Problem gambling is an epidemic, and there are numerous variables that contribute to its development. Post-reinforcement pause is one for those factors, and the present study can help us gain a better understanding of the events that maintain problem gambling and ways to prevent it. The results of the present study found that wins are the most reinforcing to gamblers compared to LDWs and losses, and that LDWs are significantly more reinforcing to gamblers than losses, as indicated by the patterns of the post-reinforcement pause.

Studien undersökte hur de tre demografiska variablerna kön, ålder och civilstatus samt de fem grundläggande personlighetsdimensionerna extraversion, vänlighet, samvetsgrannhet, neuroticism och öppenhet  relaterar till spel om pengar samt att börja spela i tidig ålder. Detta gjordes utifrån fem frågeställningar. 163 personer besvarade en enkät. Materialet undersöktes genom att utföra Pearson korrelationskofficienter samt t-test. Slutsatserna som drogs i studien var att män spelar mer samt börjar spela tidigare än kvinnor. Personligheten har ej någon påverkan på spel om pengar. Däremot fungerar samvetsgrannhet som en skyddsfaktor mot att börja spela om pengar i tidig ålder. Det noterades även att spel om pengar i tidig ålder är en riskfaktor för att utveckla ett problematiskt spelande. Studien påvisade en skillnad i personlighetsdimensionerna, där kvinnor har högre grad av neuroticism än män.  Slutligen noterades det att 7% av respondenterna i studien har ett problematiska spelande, vilket är i linje med tidigare forskning.

Thesis advisor: Richard McGowan / Gambling, both in the casino-style and lottery forms, has risen to become a major component of the entertainment industry in the United States. State governments are the gatekeepers of this growing industry, holding the power to legalize and regulate all aspects of gambling. This thesis explores the rationale state governments have for legalizing gambling as well as the impact gambling tax revenues have for state budgets. The main focus is casino-style gambling, as casino-style gambling in particular is being pursued for expansion by numerous states in a variety of forms. As various forms of gambling are legalized throughout the country, a state's gambling interests begin to face competition from both neighboring states and other forms of gambling within the state. Econometric models attempted to predict the tax revenues a state can obtain from legalized gambling based on such competition and a states own demographics. The results support a first-mover advantage for states expanding casino-style gambling and finds that new forms of gambling significantly erode established gambling industries. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2006. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program.

Thesis is focused on economic and social impact of the casinos in USA while it is global problem with important economic and political consequences. Main goal of the thesis was to analyze the gambling industry (casinos) in USA from micro-economic view (especially economic and social disadvantages of the casinos with respect to the individuals) and from macro-economic view (especially economic positives with respect to the society) together with social impacts on the citizens. Regarding methods, the thesis used methods of formal logic ( induction, deduction, analysis and synthesis). The thesis has the standard structure -- prologue, core of the thesis conclusion. Theoretical part of the thesis is focused on impacts of the gambling in general, history of the gambling in USA, Indian gaming, actual gambling in USA and legislative framework of the gambling in USA. Analytical part on the other side is focused on positive and negative impact of the commercial casinos and suggested changes in this respect for support of the positive impacts and elimination of the negative ones. Conclusion of the thesis is focused on summary of the most important conclusions of the whole analysis.

This thesis deals with the definition of the concept of pathological gambling, diagnosis, prevalence and a description of vulnerable groups. It also discusses the creation, development and various stages of pathological gambling. Theoretical knowledge is enhanced by our own research, carried out a questionnaire, which has pointed out that the profession can be a risk factor for developing an illness / addiction. The research objective is to describe the rate and quality of risk-taking behavior in gambling on sports editor, and identify any related pathological gambling with their selected characteristics. The paper looks at what it looks like gambling and betting on sports editors in terms of rates, forms and circumstances. Whether the people in this group of pathological gambling occurs and, if so, to what extent and with what consequences. They try to answer it then also, what is the relationship between work characteristics and playing sports editor of gambling or betting. How this relationship sports editors perceive themselves and how to understand. Keywords: Pathological gambling, pathological player, gambling, gambling

In modern casinos, personnel exist to advise, or in some cases, order individuals to stop gambling if they are found to be gambling in a destructive way, but what about online gamblers? This thesis evaluated the possibility of using machine learning as a supplement for personnel in real casinos when gambling online. This was done through supervised learning or more specifically, a decision tree algorithm called CART. Studies showed that the majority of problem gamblers would find it helpful to have their behavioral patterns collected to be able to identify their risk of becoming a problem gambler before their problem started. The collected behavioral features were time spent gambling, the rate of won and lost money and the number of deposits made, all these during a specific period of time. An API was implemented for casino platforms to connect to and give collected data about their users, and to receive responses to notify users about their situation. Unfortunately, there were no platforms available to test this on players gambling live. Therefore a web based survey was implemented to test if the API would work as expected. More studies could be conducted in this area, finding more features to convert for computers to understand and implement into the learning algorithm.

This study investigated various aspects of the gambling engaged in by Ontario casino employees. Five casinos participated in the study, which involved a survey sample of 934 employees and an interview sample of 21 employees. The study found that the casino employees exhibited rates of problem gambling that were over three times greater than rates that past studies have found in Ontario’s general population. The employees’ problem gambling was primarily explained by employees who increased their gambling after beginning their jobs and employees who were attracted to their jobs because of prior gambling involvement, although neither of these characteristics was especially common overall. The increases and decreases in gambling that some employees experienced after beginning their jobs were precipitated by a variety of workplace influences associated with the employees’ exposure to gambling; their exposure to patrons; their exposure to the casino work environment; and the existence of training, regulations, and resources. The prevalence of problem gambling and other behavioural gambling patterns also were found to relate to numerous employment variables, such as department and shift. Based on all of these results, various policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided.

This study investigated various aspects of the gambling engaged in by Ontario casino employees. Five casinos participated in the study, which involved a survey sample of 934 employees and an interview sample of 21 employees. The study found that the casino employees exhibited rates of problem gambling that were over three times greater than rates that past studies have found in Ontario’s general population. The employees’ problem gambling was primarily explained by employees who increased their gambling after beginning their jobs and employees who were attracted to their jobs because of prior gambling involvement, although neither of these characteristics was especially common overall. The increases and decreases in gambling that some employees experienced after beginning their jobs were precipitated by a variety of workplace influences associated with the employees’ exposure to gambling; their exposure to patrons; their exposure to the casino work environment; and the existence of training, regulations, and resources. The prevalence of problem gambling and other behavioural gambling patterns also were found to relate to numerous employment variables, such as department and shift. Based on all of these results, various policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided.

Bakgrund: Trots att spel har positiva effekter på majoriteten av alla spelare har en till fem procent av befolkningen i varje land runtom i världen spelproblem. Detta folkhälsoproblem medför hälsomässiga, ekonomiska och/eller sociala negativa konsekvenser. I Sverige utgör främst män med låg utbildning och inkomst i åldersgruppen 18-24 år riskgruppen. Ett skäl till varför problemspelandet ökat på senare år är att allt fler spelare väljer internet som spelplattform där de flesta av problemspelarna befinner sig. Motiverande samtal och kognitiv beteendeterapi är två metoder som använts vid preventiva åtgärder mot spelproblem. Syftet med studien var att beskriva motiven till varför människor spelar om pengar på internet samt undersöka skillnaderna i motiv mellan problemspelare och icke-problemspelare. Metod: En litteraturstudie genomfördes och tio vetenskapliga artiklar hittades i databaserna Pubmed, PsycINFO, Academic Search Elite och SciVerse Science Direct. Data bearbetades genom temaanalys. Resultatet visade att spelandets ekonomiska möjligheter, chans till anonymitet, kontroll över sociala interaktioner, bekvämlighet och flexibilitet i spelandet, emotionella tillstånd styr spelandet samt omgivningens påverkan utgjorde sex teman som beskrev motiven till spel om pengar på internet. Problemspelare beskrev i större utsträckning spelandets ekonomiska möjligheter, negativa emotionella tillstånd styr spelandet och chans till anonymitet som viktigaste motiven jämfört med icke-problemspelare som beskrev bekvämlighet och flexibilitet i spelandet och att positiva emotionella tillstånd styr spelandet som viktiga motiv. Implikation: Då spel om pengar på internet är ett relativt nytt fenomen som fortsätter att växa behövs vidare forskning som tydliggör om motiven skiljer sig åt hos specifika grupper i samhället med syfte att individanpassa interventionsprogram. / Background: Although gambling has positive outcomes on the majority of the gamblers, one to five percent of the populations in each country around the world are problem gamblers. This public health issue gives healthy, economics and/or social negative consequences. The Swedish group with most risk for problem gambling is men with low education and income between the years 18-24. One reason to the progress of problem gambling is that more and more players choose Internet, where most problem gamblers exist. Motivational Interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy are two methods which have been used as preventive measures against problem gambling. The aim of this study was to describe Internet gambling motives and examine differences in motives among problem gamblers and non-problem gamblers. Method: A literature review was made and ten peer reviewed articles was found in the databases Pubmed, PsycINFO, Academic Search Elite and SciVerse Science Direct. Data was processed through theme-analyze. The result showed that economic opportunities, chance to be anonymous, control of social interactions, convenience and flexibility in gambling, emotional state control gambling and the surrounding context as motive formed six themes in which the motives for gambling on Internet are presented. Problem gamblers were more likely to report economic opportunities, negative emotional state control gambling and chance to be anonymous as special important motives than non-problem gamblers, who preferred convenience and flexibility and positive emotional state control gambling as important motives. Implication: Internet gambling is a relatively new phenomenon which continues to grow; more research about differences in motives between specifically populations is needed to make it easier to create intervention programs which match each problem gambler.