Can an Accelerated Gambling Simulation Reduce Persistence on a Gambling Task?

We evaluated an intervention based on a digital slot machine accelerator and whether the accelerator would decrease persistence in play on a subsequent gambling analog task. Ninety college students were randomly assigned to one of three interventions: the digital slot machine accelerator; an educational handout describing probabilities and concepts related to slot machine gambling; a control handout unrelated to gambling. Participants then played a realistic three-reel 5¢ slot machine pre-loaded with 30 credits. Participants could stop playing on any trial and could keep winnings beyond the initial 30 credits. We found that exposure to either the accelerator or educational handout decreased participants’ judgments of the probability of winning. However, only participants in the accelerator condition, not those in the educational handout condition, played significantly fewer trials on the slot machine than controls. Thus, intervention and prevention efforts may be strengthened by advanced gambling simulation that experientially demonstrate the negative long-term outcomes of gambling.