School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
School of Education, Social Work and Psychology, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Australia.
J Gambl Stud. 2020 Jun;36(2):499-511. doi: 10.1007/s10899-020-09950-5.
Although it is often assumed that electronic gaming machines (EGMs) are associated with the highest level of risk, it has proved difficult to find reliable evidence in support of this proposition. In this paper, we analysed statistics from major Australian community prevalence studies for the period 2011-2020 to investigate whether EGMs (in comparison to racing and casino table games) have a stronger association with problem gambling. All prevalence studies reviewed used telephone sampling and the Problem Gambling Severity Index to assess problem gambling. In this paper, we examine the principal hypothesis using several lines of evidence, including whether problem gamblers are more likely to gamble and gamble regularly on EGMs as opposed to racing and casino games and if the EGM-problem gambling association was maintained after controlling for other forms of participation. Results showed that of all gambling activities, EGMs do appear to have the strongest association with problem gambling. Despite having a disproportionately higher level of participation on racing and casino games as compared with other gamblers, problem gamblers are more likely to report regular or weekly participation in EGM gambling and this may be the reason why this activity emerges most strongly as a predictor of problem gambling in multivariate models. This finding is particularly salient, given the very high prevalence of EGM participation, compared to other risky gambling forms. The findings underscore the importance of survey reporting that presents results in a form that can inform policy relevant research relating to the potential impact of different gambling activities.
虽然人们通常认为电子游戏机会带来最高的风险，但很难找到可靠的证据来支持这一说法。在本文中，我们分析了 2011 年至 2020 年期间澳大利亚主要社区流行率研究的统计数据，以调查电子游戏机会（与赛马和赌场桌面游戏相比）是否与赌博问题有更强的关联。所有审查的流行率研究都使用电话抽样和赌博问题严重程度指数来评估赌博问题。在本文中，我们使用几条证据来检验主要假设，包括赌徒是否更有可能在电子游戏机会上赌博和定期赌博，而不是赛马和赌场游戏，以及在控制其他形式的参与后，电子游戏机会与赌博问题的关联是否仍然存在。结果表明，在所有赌博活动中，电子游戏机会似乎与赌博问题的关联最强。尽管与其他赌徒相比，在赛马和赌场游戏上的参与度不成比例地更高，但赌徒更有可能报告在电子游戏机会上有定期或每周的参与，这可能是为什么这种活动在多变量模型中最强烈地成为赌博问题的预测因素。鉴于与其他高风险赌博形式相比，电子游戏机会的参与率非常高，这一发现尤为重要。这一发现强调了报告结果的重要性，以便为与不同赌博活动的潜在影响相关的政策相关研究提供信息。
