School of Psychological Sciences, University of Human Environments, 9-12, Dogohimata, Matsuyama, Ehime, 7900825, Japan.
College of Comprehensive Psychology, Ritsumeikan University, Osaka, Japan.
J Gambl Stud. 2024 Jun;40(2):601-618. doi: 10.1007/s10899-023-10242-x. Epub 2023 Aug 13.
Pachinko and pachislot are popular types of gambling activities in Japan. Prior studies in Japan have reported a concerning prevalence of problem gambling among adult players. While these studies have identified various gambling-related harms, Japanese research on harm-minimization strategies is scarce. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare differences of gambling-related harms among normal-, half-, and quarter-pachi players to the usefulness of low-investment pachinko and pachislot as a harm-reduction strategy. We considered gamblers who played games that cost the typical amount of money to be "normal-pachi players." Those who played low-investment games were categorized as "half-pachi players" and "quarter-pachi players," reflecting those who played games at half or one quarter the cost of a typical machine, respectively. To assess the harm-reduction effect, a one-way ANCOVA was conducted to compare the impact of the groups (normal-pachi players [n = 101], half-pachi players [n = 104], and quarter-pachi players [n = 100]) on dependent variables, namely the number of days players had gambled during the prior month; total time and amount of money spent on gambling; debts caused by gambling; gambling severity; cognitive distortion; depressive symptoms; and problems in work, family, and social life. We demonstrated that the amount of money spent by quarter-pachi players on gambling during the past month was lower than that of normal-pachi players. However, we did not find significant differences with respect to any other gambling-related harms among normal-, half-, and quarter-pachi players. Low-investment pachinko and pachislot players spends less the amount of money spent on gambling. Low-investment pachinko and pachislot would thus partly act as a harm-minimization strategy. Moreover, the results of the present study indicate that the problems at work affect various outcomes for gamblers. Given that 90% of the participants in this study were employed, the results of this study may have important implications for employed gamblers.
弹球和柏青哥是日本流行的两种赌博活动类型。此前在日本开展的研究报告称，成年玩家中存在令人担忧的赌博问题。尽管这些研究已经确定了各种与赌博相关的危害，但日本在减少危害策略方面的研究却很少。因此，本研究旨在比较正常、半额和四分之一额弹球玩家之间与赌博相关的危害的差异，以及作为减少危害策略的低投资弹球和柏青哥的有用性。我们将玩典型金额游戏的赌徒视为“正常弹球玩家”。那些玩低投资游戏的人被归类为“半额弹球玩家”和“四分之一额弹球玩家”，分别反映了那些玩游戏的人分别以典型机器成本的一半或四分之一进行游戏。为了评估减少危害的效果，进行了单向方差分析，以比较组（正常弹球玩家[n=101]、半额弹球玩家[n=104]和四分之一额弹球玩家[n=100]）对因变量的影响，即玩家在上个月赌博的天数；赌博的总时间和花费的金额；赌博造成的债务；赌博严重程度；认知扭曲；抑郁症状；以及工作、家庭和社会生活中的问题。我们表明，四分之一额弹球玩家在上个月赌博花费的金额低于正常弹球玩家。然而，我们没有发现正常、半额和四分之一额弹球玩家之间在任何其他与赌博相关的危害方面存在显著差异。低投资弹球和柏青哥玩家的赌博花费金额较低。因此，低投资弹球和柏青哥在一定程度上可以作为减少危害的策略。此外，本研究的结果表明，工作中的问题会影响赌徒的各种结果。鉴于本研究的 90%参与者都有工作，因此这项研究的结果可能对在职赌徒具有重要意义。
