Study Brings Hope for Problem Gamblers

Study brings hope for problem gamblers

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Early intervention can help prevent problem gambling from turning into an addiction, a study at the University of Prince Edward Island has found.

'When we improved people's thinking about VLT gambling … they tended to gamble less.' — Prof. Jason Doiron

Working with people who showed some signs of problem gambling on video lottery terminals, psychology professor Jason Doiron found that they could be taught that the odds of winning are not as good as they may believe, and that that led to less gambling.

"For example, we explained that video lottery terminals are run by a random number generator, and outcomes on VLTs are always entirely random, and have nothing to do with past wins and losses," Doiron said.

Education can lessen the allure of VLTs, a new study says. (CBC)

Doiron worked with about 40 Islanders, providing about nine hours of instruction to each of them. The results were published last week in the Journal of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Doiron said it's the first scientific proof that change in attitude can change gambling behaviour.

"When we improved people's thinking about VLT gambling, we noticed that they tended to gamble less on VLTs, and in fact gambled less on some other forms of gambling," he said.

Doiron said the results from his study could be used to intervene with problem gamblers before they become addicted.