Cashless gambling and the pain of paying: effects of monetary format on slot machine gambling

Abstract

Advances in cashless technologies create a dilemma for gambling regulators. Research indicates that cash purchases entail a ‘pain of paying’ that is attenuated with more abstract forms of payment, yet limited research has directly tested the impact of mode of payment on gambling behavior. Across two experiments, community-recruited gamblers were randomized to use an authentic slot machine in the laboratory, under different conditions of monetary endowment. In Experiment 1 (n = 61), participants were endowed with funds to play the slot machine, in either a cash or voucher format. In Experiment 2 (n = 48), participants acquired the cash endowment as a windfall or from an earning task. In session-level analyses, bet size and bet volume did not vary as a function of monetary condition. In more sensitive trial-level analyses, no interactions involving the monetary manipulations were consistent across the two experiments. Data from both experiments indicated faster spin initiation latencies as a function of losing streak length, and slower spin initiation latencies and larger bet size as a function of the prior win magnitude. These trial-level analyses show systematic influences on gambling behavior in the laboratory environment, supporting the basic sensitivity of our design. Overall, our data provide weak evidence for the hypothesis that monetary factors influence gambling tendencies. Acknowledging the possibility of the null hypothesis, these data also highlight the methodological challenges with manipulating monetary value in gambling research, including the use of endowed funds, and controlling for sources of variability when using authentic slot machines.

Keywords:

• Gambling
• slot machines
• pain of paying
• money
• risk taking
• decision-making

Disclosure statement

EHLO works as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Gambling Research at UBC which is supported by funding from the Province of British Columbia and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), a Canadian Crown Corporation. She has received a speaker honorarium from the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling (U.S.A.) and accepted travel/accommodation for speaking engagements from the National Council for Responsible Gambling (U.S.A.), the International Multidisciplinary Symposium on Gambling Addiction (Switzerland) and the Responsible Gambling Council (Canada). She has not received any further direct or indirect payments from the gambling industry or groups substantially funded by gambling. LC is the Director of the Center for Gambling Research at UBC, which is supported by funding from the Province of British Columbia and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), a Canadian Crown Corporation. LC has received a speaker/travel honorarium from the National Association for Gambling Studies (Australia) and the National Center for Responsible Gaming (US), and has received fees for academic services from the National Center for Responsible Gaming (US), GambleAware (UK) and Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (Canada). He has not received any further direct or indirect payments from the gambling industry or groups substantially funded by gambling. He has received royalties from Cambridge Cognition Ltd. relating to neurocognitive testing. Ke Zhang holds the Graduate Fellowship in Gambling Research, a fellowship supported by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and adjudicated by the UBC Faculty of Arts. Mario Ferrari and Ke Zhang both disclose receiving a speaker honorarium from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC). CC, NC, KM report no disclosures.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a Discovery Award to LC from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [RGPIN‐2017‐04069], and the core funding of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, which is supported by the Province of British Columbia government and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC; a Canadian Crown Corporation). The slot machines used in the present study are loaned to the Centre by the BCLC, and we thank BCLC for their support with regard to occasional maintenance of these machines.