Abstract
The attempt to recover gambling losses by continuing to gamble (‘chasing’) has featured prominently in accounts of excessive gambling. This research represents the first attempt to operationalize and measure chasing in terms of its cognitive (behavioral intention), emotive (urges) and behavioral components, and to investigate the role of chasing in relation to impaired control over gambling. Two survey samples of 84 male off-course (betting shop) race gamblers (mean age 41, SD = 15) and 137 gaming machine players (73 females, mean age 48, SD = 15 and 64 males, mean age 43, SD = 16) were recruited at gambling venues. Respondents completed a structured questionnaire that investigated retrospective report of chasing and an impaired control scale (“The Scale of Gambling Choices”). It was found that the various components of chasing formed a composite measure with high internal reliability that was strongly related to indicators of excessive gambling (e.g. time spent gambling, expenditure as a proportion of income) and to impaired control scores. Reacting to large wins by further betting was almost as strongly related to impaired control as was persistence after losing. Those who returned later to chase had significantly higher impaired control scores than those who only chased within a session. Alcohol-related chasing was associated with impaired control over gambling. Chasing of losses and impaired control appear to be generic processes in evidence across both forms of gambling and gender (most format and sex differences were of minor significance).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott, M. W., & Volberg, R. A. (1996). The New Zealand national survey of problem and pathological gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 12(2), 143-160.
Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. (1997). Unplugged from the machine: Video-Lottery Terminal problem gambling treatment clients. Edmonton, Government of Alberta.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th Ed). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Anderson, G., & Brown, R. I. F. (1984). Real and laboratory gambling, sensation-seeking and arousal. British Journal of Psychology, 75, 401-410.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1997). Australia now—A statistical profile. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Baron, E. & Dickerson, M. (1999) Alcohol consumption and self-control of gambling behavior. Journal of Gambling Studies, Vol 15(1), 3-15.
Baron, E., Dickerson, M., & Blaszczynski, A. (1995). “The Scale of Gambling Choices”: Preliminary development of an instrument to measure impaired control of gambling behaviour. In: O'Connor, J.V. (Ed.), High Stakes in the Nineties (2nd Ed) (pp. 153-168). Proceedings of the 6th National Conference of the National Association for Gambling Studies, Fremantle, Western Australia.
Bell, D. E. (1982). Regret in decision making under conditions of uncertainty. Operations Research, 30, 961-981.
Blaszczynski, A., McConaghy, N. (1989). Anxiety and/or depression in the pathogenesis of addictive gambling. International Journal of the Addictions, 24(4), 337-350.
Blaszczynski, A., McConaghy, N., & Frankova, A. (1990). Boredom proneness in pathological gambling. Psychological Reports, 67, 35-42.
Breen, R. B., & Zuckerman, M. (1999). ‘Chasing’ in gambling behavior: Personality and cognitive determinants. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 1097-1111.
Browne, B. R. (1989). Going on tilt: Frequent poker players and control. Journal of Gambling Studies, 5(1), 3-21.
Corless, T., & Dickerson, M. G. (1989). Gambler's self-perceptions of the determinants of impaired control. British Journal of Addiction, 84, 1527-1537.
Coventry, K. R., & Brown, R. I. (1993). Sensation seeking, gambling and gambling addictions. Addiction, 88, 541-554.
Coventry, K. R., & Constable, B. (1999). Physiological arousal and sensation seeking in female fruit machine gamblers. Addiction, 94, 425-30.
Coventry, K. R., & Norman, A. C. (1997). Arousal, sensation seeking and frequency of gambling in off-course racing bettors. British Journal of Psychology, 88, 671-81.
Cunningham, J., & Sobell, L. C. (1997). Should physicians be asking about alcohol use? The patient's perspective. Substance Abuse, 18(1), 27-32.
Delfabbro, P. H., & Winefield, A. H. (1999a). Poker-machine gambling: An analysis of within session characteristics. British Journal of Psychology, 90, 425-439.
Delfabbro, P. H., & Winefield, A. H. (1999b). The danger of over-explanation in psychological research: A reply to Griffiths. British Journal of Psychology, 90, 447-450.
Dickerson, M. G. (1979). FI schedules and persistence of gambling in the UK betting office. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 315-323.
Dickerson, M. G. (1984). Compulsive gambling. London: Longman.
Dickerson, M. G. (1991). Internal and external determinants of persistent gambling. In: Heather, N., Miller, W. M., & Greeley, J. (Eds.), Self-control and the addictive behaviours (pp. 317-338). Sydney: Maxwell Macmillan.
Dickerson, M. G., & Adcock, S. (1987). Mood, arousal and cognitions in persistent gambling: Preliminary investigations of a theoretical model. Journal of Gambling Behavior, 3(1), 3-15.
Dickerson, M., G., Allcock, C., Blaszczynski, A., Nicholls, B., Williams, J., & Maddern, R. (1996). An examination of the socio-economic effects of gambling on individuals, families and the community, including research into the costs of problem gambling in New South Wales. A report prepared for the Casino Community Benefit Fund Trustees by the Australian Institute for Gambling Research, University of Western Sydney.
Dickerson, M. G. & Baron, E. (2000). Contemporary issues and future directions for research into pathological gambling. Addiction, 95(8), 1145-1159.
Dickerson, M. G., Hinchy, J., & Fabre, J. (1987) Chasing, arousal and sensation seeking in offcourse gamblers. British Journal of Addiction, 82, 673-680.
Dickerson, M. G., Hinchy, J., Legg England, S., Fabre, J. & Cunningham, R. (1992) On the determinants of persistent gambling behaviour I. British Journal of Psychology, 83, 237-248.
Eysenck, M. W. (1997). Anxiety and cognition: A unified theory. London: Psychology Press.
Griffiths, M. D. (1990). The cognitive psychology of gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 6(1), 31-42.
Griffiths, M. D. (1991). The psychobiology of the near miss in fruit machine gambling. Journal of Psychology, 125, 347-357.
Griffiths, M. D. (1995). The role of subjective mood states in the maintenance of gambling behavior. Journal of Gambling Studies, 11, 123-135.
Griffiths, M. D. (1999). The psychology of a near-miss (revisited): A comment on Delfabbro and Winefield. British Journal of Psychology, 90, 441-445.
Haw, J., & Dickerson, M. G. (1997). The effect of machine characteristics on poker machine play. Paper presented at the Eighth National Conference for Gambling Studies, Melbourne.
Heather, N. (1991). Impaired control over alcohol consumption. In: Heather, N., Miller, W.R., & Greeley, J. (Eds.), Self-control and the addictive behaviours (pp. 153-179). Sydney: Maxwell Macmillan.
Heather, N., Tebbutt, J., Mattick, R., & Zamir, R (1993). Development of a scale for measuring impaired control over alcohol consumption: A preliminary report. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 54(6), 700-709.
Hills, A. M., Hill, S., Mamone, N. & Dickerson, M. G. (2001). Induced mood and persistence at gaming. Addiction, 96(11), 1629-1638.
Jellinek, E. M. (1960). The disease concept of alcoholism. New Haven: Hillhouse Press.
Kyngdon, A., & Dickerson, M. G. (1999) An experimental study of the effect of prior alcohol consumption on a simulated gambling activity. Addiction, 94(5), 697-707
Lesieur, H. R. (1984). The chase: Career of the compulsive gambler. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Co.
Maisto, S. A., Sobell, L. C., Cooper, A. M., Sobell, M.B. (1982). Comparison of two techniques to obtain retrospective reports of drinking behavior from alcohol abusers. Addictive Behaviors, 7(1), 33-38.
O'Connor, J V. (2000). An investigation of chasing behavior and its relationship to impaired control in excessive gambling. Unpublished PhD manuscript, University of Western Sydney.
O'Connor, J; Dickerson, M & Phillips, M (1995). Chasing and its relationship to impaired control over gambling. In: O'Connor, J (Ed) High Stakes in the Nineties (2nd Ed) (pp. 169-182) Proceedings of the 6th National Conference of the National Association for Gambling Studies, Fremantle, Western Australia.
O'Connor, J & Dickerson, M (1997) Emotional and cognitive functioning in chasing gambling losses. In: Coman, G., Evans, B., & Wootton, R. Responsible Gambling: A future winner (pp. 280-285), Proceedings of the 8th National Association for Gambling Studies Conference, Melbourne.
Oldman, D. (1978). Compulsive gamblers. Sociological Review, 26, 349-371.
Orford, J. (2001). Excessive Appetites: A psychological view of addictions (2nd ed.). Chichester, Wiley.
Orford, J., Morison, V., & Somers, M. (1996). Drinking and gambling: A comparison with implications for theories of addiction. Drug and Alcohol Review, 15, 47-56.
Productivity Commission (1999). Australia's gambling industries. Report No. 10, Canberra, AusInfo.
Reid, R. L. (1986). The psychology of the near miss. Journal of Gambling Behavior, 2(1), 32-39.
Rosecrance, J. (1986). You can't tell the players without a scorecard: A typology of horse players. Deviant Behavior, 7, 77-97.
Schellinck, T. & Schrans, T. (1998). Nova Scotia Video Lottery players' survey. Report for the Nova Scotia Department of Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Schellinck, T. & Schrans, T. (2001). Survey of gambling and problem gambling in New Brunswick. Report for the New Brunswick Department of Health and Wellness.
Sharpe, L., Tarrier, N., Schotte, D., & Spence, S. H. (1995). The role of autonomic arousal in problem gambling. Addiction, 90, 1529-1540.
Sullivan, S. (1999). GP's take a punt with a brief gambling screen: Development of the Early Intervention Gambling Health Test (Eight Screen). In: McMillen, J & Laker, L (Eds). Developing strategic alliances (pp. 384-401). Proceedings of the 9th National Association for Gambling Studies Conference, Gold Coast, Queensland, November 1999.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1996). Using multivariate statistics. New York: Harper Collins.
Wagenaar, W. A. (1988). Paradoxes of gambling behaviour. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Walker, M. B. (1992). The psychology of gambling. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Walker, M. B. & Dickerson, M. G. (1996). The prevalence of problem and pathological gambling: A critical analysis. Journal of Gambling Studies, 12, 233-49.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
O'Connor, J., Dickerson, M. Definition and Measurement of Chasing in Off-Course Betting and Gaming Machine Play. J Gambl Stud 19, 359–386 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026375809186
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026375809186