Wu Raymond, Abarbanel Brett, Clark Luke
1Centre for Gambling Research, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada.
2International Gambling Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
J Behav Addict. 2024 Dec 2;13(4):974-986. doi: 10.1556/2006.2024.00062. Print 2024 Dec 30.
Gambling content on streaming platforms has gained popularity. Given their intense, cue-laden nature, watching gambling streams may trigger cravings among viewers. At the same time, people who gamble may be motivated to watch gambling streams in an attempt to regulate their cravings.
We tested these ideas across two preregistered online studies, recruiting i) people who gamble to compare a subgroup of gambling stream viewers with non-viewers (Study 1; nviewers = 221, nnon-viewers = 642), and ii) a group of gambling stream viewers (Study 2; nviewers = 271).
Gambling stream viewers were younger, tended to identify as men, and displayed higher levels of problem gambling and gambling cravings compared to non-viewers. Problem gambling severity was correlated positively with both the motivation to use gambling streams to regulate cravings and with cravings elicited by watching gambling streams.
Our findings indicate that while viewers with higher levels of problem gambling may use gambling streams to regulate their cravings, doing so might evoke cravings.
流媒体平台上的赌博内容越来越受欢迎。鉴于其强烈的、充满线索的性质，观看赌博直播可能会引发观众的渴望。与此同时，赌博者可能会被激励去观看赌博直播，试图调节他们的渴望。
我们在两项预先注册的在线研究中测试了这些想法，招募了：i）赌博者，以比较赌博直播观众的一个亚组与非观众（研究1；观众n = 221，非观众n = 642），以及ii）一组赌博直播观众（研究2；观众n = 271）。
与非观众相比，赌博直播观众更年轻，倾向于认定为男性，并且表现出更高水平的问题赌博和赌博渴望。问题赌博的严重程度与使用赌博直播来调节渴望的动机以及观看赌博直播引发的渴望均呈正相关。
我们的研究结果表明，虽然问题赌博水平较高的观众可能会利用赌博直播来调节他们的渴望，但这样做可能会引发渴望。
