The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

The WAGER, Vol 2(34) - Knowing the Odds

Gambling activities involve varying levels of skill. The lottery, for example, is an entirely random event that cannot be influenced by skill. Blackjack, poker, and craps are examples of games that involve skill as well as chance. Two questions researchers have examined are: 1) do individuals have accurate perceptions of the level of skill involved in various gambling games?, and 2) does greater skill (knowledge of probability and expected value) protect a gambler from developing a compulsive gambling problem? A study* of 110 volunteers included 112 survey items about perceptions of randomly determined events. The results showed that potential and... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 2(33) - Memory of Wins and Losses

In gambling, as in life, people tend to remember positive, exciting events more readily than negative events. A growing literature has begun to examine how accurately gamblers recall their wins and losses. Vagge’s study of 466 6th to 12th grade students found that 60.9% of those who remembered their first gambling experience reported that they won the first time they gambled; 74.4% of the gamblers in this study believed that, overall, they have won more than they have lost.1 Similarly, Frank surveyed 636 college students over a 3-year period about their gambling activity. Of these 636 students, 66% reported that,... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 2(32) - Sports Card Collecting: A Form of Gambling

The world of sports card collecting has changed dramatically in the past decade. For example, in 1990, there were only 2 sets of basketball cards (a total of 531 individual cards) available to collectors. By 1997, 17 sets of basketball cards (a total of 9,650 cards) were available. Similarly, there are now 199 different sets of baseball sports cards. As the card sets have changed, collectors’ goals also have shifted. Instead of trying to collect every available card, which would be unrealistic today, many collectors “chase” insert cards. Insert cards are special cards inserted randomly into packs of sports cards.... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol 2(31) - Patterns of Gambling Activity Among Massachusetts Adolescents

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently conducted a survey of 6,844 randomly selected Massachusetts public middle and high school students to assess trends in students’ substance use.1 In addition to investigating patterns of substance use, this survey investigated students’ participation in sports betting and the lottery. This survey revealed that 49.8% of the 7th to 12th grade students had bet on sports in their lifetime and 21.6% had bet on sports during the 30 days prior to the survey. Middle school students (grades 7 and 8) and high school students (grades 9 to 12) had similar rates of sports... Read more →