Abstract
Internet gambling is growing rapidly, as is concern about its possible effect on the public’s health. This paper reports the results of the first prospective longitudinal study of actual Internet sports gambling behavior during eight study months. Data include recorded fixed-odds bets on the outcome of sporting contests and live-action bets on the outcome of events within contests for 40,499 Internet sports gambling service subscribers who enrolled during February 2005. We tracked the following primary gambling behaviors: daily totals of the number of bets made, money bet, and money won. We transformed these variables into measures of gambling involvement. We analyzed behavior for both fixed-odds and live-action bets. The median betting behavior of the 39,719 fixed-odds bettors was to place 2.5 bets of €4 (approximately $5.3 US) every fourth day during the median 4 months from first to last bet. This typical pattern incurred a loss of 29% of the amount wagered. The median betting behavior of the 24,794 live-action bettors was to place 2.8 wagers of €4 every fourth day during the median duration of 6 weeks at a loss of 18% of the amount wagered. We also examined the behavior of empirically determined groups of heavily involved bettors whose activity exceeded that of 99% of the sample.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, M. W., Williams, M. M., & Volberg, R. A. (2004). A prospective study of problem and regular nonproblem gamblers living in the community. Substance Use and Misuse, 39(6), 855–884.
Barnes, G. M., Welte, J. W., Hoffman, J. H., & Dintcheff, B. A. (2005). Shared predictors of youthful gambling, substance use, and delinquency. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 19(2), 165–174.
Bray, H. (2006). Could the future of Internet gambling in the US lie in Antigua? Retrieved March 30, 2006, from www.boston.com.
DeFuentes-Merillas, L., Koeter, M. W., Schippers, G. M., & van den Brink, W. (2004). Temporal stability of pathological scratchcard gambling among adult scratchcard buyers two years later. Addiction, 99(1), 117–127.
Federal Trade Commission. (2003). Online gambling and kids: A bad bet. Retrieved December 20, 2003, from http://www.ftc.gov/gamble.
General Accounting Office. (2002). Internet gambling: An overview of the issues (No. GAO-03-89). Washington, DC: United States General Accounting Office.
Griffiths, M. D. (1999). Gambling technologies: Prospects for problem gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 15(3), 265–283.
Griffiths, M. D., & Parke, J. (2002). The social impact of Internet gambling. Social Science Computer Review, 20(3), 312–320.
Griffiths, M. D. (2001). Internet gambling: Preliminary results of the first U.K. prevalence study. Retrieved May 16, 2007, from http://www.camh.net/egambling/issue5/research/griffiths_article.html
Hodgins, D. C., & el-Guebaly, N. (2004). Retrospective and prospective reports of precipitants to relapse in pathological gambling. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(1), 72–80.
Ialomiteanu, A., & Adlaf, E., M. (2002). Internet gambling among Ontario Adults. Retrieved May 16, 2007, from http://www.camh.net/egambling/issue5/research/ialomiteanu_adlaf_article.html
Jacques, C., Ladouceur, R., & Ferland, F. (2000). Impact of availability on gambling: A longitudinal study. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 45(9), 810–815.
Ladd, G. T., & Petry, N. M. (2002). Disordered gambling among university-based medical and dental patients: A focus on Internet gambling. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16(1), 76–79.
LaPlante, D. A., Nelson, S. E., LaBrie, R. A., & Shaffer, H. J. (2006). Men and women playing games: Gender and the gambling preferences of Iowa Gambling Treatment Program participants. Journal of Gambling Studies, 22(1), 65–80.
McBride, J. (2006). Internet gambling among youth: A preliminary examination. Youth Gambling International, 6(2), 1.
Mitka, M. (2001). Win or lose, Internet gambling stakes are high. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285(8), 1005.
National Research Council. (1999). Pathological gambling: A critical review. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Petry, N. M., & Mallya, S. (2004). Gambling participation and problems among employees at a university health center. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20(2), 155–170.
Shaffer, H. J., & Hall, M. N. (2002). The natural history of gambling and drinking problems among casino employees. Journal of Social Psychology, 142(4), 405–424.
Shaffer, H. J., LaBrie, R. A., & LaPlante, D. A. (2004). Laying the foundation for quantifying regional exposure to social phenomena: Considering the case of legalized gambling as a public health toxin. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18(1), 40–48.
Shaffer, H. J., LaBrie, R., LaPlante, D., Nelson, S. E., & Stanton, M. V. (2004). The road less traveled: Moving from distribution to determinants in the study of gambling epidemiology. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49(8), 504–516.
Shaffer, H. J., LaPlante, D. A., LaBrie, R. A., Kidman, R. C., Donato, T., & Stanton, M. V. (2004). Toward a syndrome model of addiction: Multiple expressions, common etiology. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 12, 367–374.
Slutske, W. S., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2005). Personality and problem gambling: A prospective study of a birth cohort of young adults. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(7), 769–775.
Slutske, W. S., Jackson, K. M., & Sher, K. J. (2003). The natural history of problem gambling from age 18 to 29. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112(2), 263–274.
Vachon, J., Vitaro, F., Wanner, B., & Tremblay, R. E. (2004). Adolescent gambling: Relationships with parent gambling and parenting practices. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18(4), 398–401.
Vander Bilt, J., Dodge, H., Pandav, R., Shaffer, H. J., & Ganguli, M. (2004). Gambling participation and social support among older adults: A longitudinal community study. Journal of Gambling Studies, 20, 373–389.
Volberg, R. A., Gerstein, D. R., Christiansen, E. M., & Baldridge, J. (2001). Assessing self-reported expenditures on gambling. Managerial and Decision Economics, 22, 77–96.
Wall Street Journal. (2006). Should online gambling be banned? Retrieved April 4, 2006, from www.wsj.com.
Wiebe, J., Single, E., & Falkowski-Ham, A. (2003). Exploring the evolution of problem gambling: A one year follow-up study. Ontario: The Responsible Gaming Council.
Winters, K. C., Stinchfield, R. D., Botzet, A., & Anderson, N. (2002). A prospective study of youth gambling behaviors. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16(1), 3–9.
Winters, K. C., Stinchfield, R. D., Botzet, A., & Slutske, W. S. (2005). Pathways of youth gambling problem severity. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 19(1), 104–107.
Woodruff, C., & Gregory, S. (2005). Profile of Internet gamblers: Betting on the future. UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal, 9(1), 1–14.
Zinberg, N. E. (1984). Drug, set, and setting. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Zinberg, N. E., & Harding, W. M. (Eds.). (1982). Control over intoxicant use. New York: Free Press.
Zinberg, N. E., Harding, W. M., & Winkeller, M. (1977). A study of social regulatory mechanisms in controlled illicit drug users. Journal of Drug Issues, 7(2), 117–133.
Zinberg, N. E., & Jacobson, R. C. (1976). The natural history of chipping. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 37–40.
Acknowledgements
Bwin.com, Interactive Entertainment, AG provided primary support for this study. The authors extend special thanks to Sarbani Hazra, Christine Reilly, Christine Thurmond, and Ziming Xuan for their support and work on this project. Dr. LaBrie had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. None of these supporters or any of the authors has personal interests in bwin.com and its associated companies that would suggest a conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LaBrie, R.A., LaPlante, D.A., Nelson, S.E. et al. Assessing the Playing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports Gambling Behavior. J Gambl Stud 23, 347–362 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-007-9067-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-007-9067-3