Myles Dan, Bennett Daniel, Carter Adrian, Yücel Murat, Albertella Lucy, de Lacy-Vawdon Cassandra, Livingstone Charles
School of Psychological Sciences, Level 5, 18 Innovation Walk, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
Addict Behav Rep. 2023 Jun 3;18:100500. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2023.100500. eCollection 2023 Dec.
Losses disguised as wins (LDWs) are a salient type of losing outcome common to electronic gambling machines (EGMs). These events occur when a gambling payout is less than the amount wagered (i.e., a net loss) but is nonetheless accompanied by the sounds and animations that accompany genuine wins. Previous lab-based studies have reported that participants tend to overestimate genuine wins when LDWs are present. This study reports an independent replication of these findings in a large online sample that included a substantial number of individuals reporting high-risk gambling and frequent EGM users.
This online study recruited a sample of 940 participants who were randomly assigned to view one of two brief videos. Each video displayed a short period of simulated online slot machine gambling and included 2 genuine wins and either 3 or 0 LDWs. Participants were asked to estimate the number of times a win occurred that . Participants also completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index.
The mean estimated number of genuine wins was significantly larger for the condition displaying LDWs, 3.02 [95% CI = 2.82, 3.21] than the control condition, 2.14 [1.98, 2.30], (887.66) = 6.78, = 0.44, p <.001.
We replicated the LDW-triggered win overestimation effect previously reported in lab-based experiments that have recruited smaller samples. This effect was robust in both low-risk and high-risk groups, indicating that even experienced gamblers remain susceptible. Exploratory modelling suggested only a minority of individuals were uninfluenced by LDWs.
伪装成赢局的输局（LDWs）是电子赌博机（EGMs）常见的一种显著的输局类型。当赌博赔付低于下注金额（即净损失）但仍伴有真正赢局时的声音和动画效果时，就会出现这些情况。先前基于实验室的研究报告称，当存在伪装成赢局的输局时，参与者往往会高估真正的赢局。本研究报告了在一个大型在线样本中对这些发现的独立重复验证，该样本包括大量报告有高风险赌博行为的个体和经常使用电子赌博机的用户。
这项在线研究招募了940名参与者，他们被随机分配观看两个简短视频中的一个。每个视频展示了一段模拟在线老虎机赌博的短时间过程，包括2次真正的赢局以及3次或0次伪装成赢局的输局。要求参与者估计出现赢局的次数。参与者还完成了问题赌博严重程度指数评估。
对于展示伪装成赢局的输局的情况，真正赢局的平均估计次数显著多于对照组，分别为3.02 [95%置信区间 = 2.82, 3.21] 和2.14 [1.98, 2.30]，(887.66) = 6.78， = 0.44，p <.001。
我们重复验证了先前在基于实验室的实验中报告的、样本量较小的伪装成赢局的输局引发的赢局高估效应。这种效应在低风险和高风险群体中都很显著，表明即使是经验丰富的赌徒也容易受到影响。探索性建模表明只有少数个体不受伪装成赢局的输局的影响。
