Slot Machine Response Frequency Predicts Pathological Gambling

Slot machines are among the most addictive forms of gambling, and pathological gambling slot machine playersrepresent the largest group of treatment seekers, accounting for 35% to 93% of the population. Pathologicalgambling sufferers have significantly higher response frequency (games / time) on slot machines compared withnon-problem gamblers, which may suggest increased reinforcement of the gambling behavior in pathologicalgambling. However, to date it is unknown whether or not the increased response frequency in pathologicalgambling is associated with symptom severity of the disorder. This study tested the hypothesis that responsefrequency is associated with symptom severity in pathological gambling. We tested response frequency amongtwenty-two pathological gambling sufferers and twenty-one non-problem gamblers on a commercially availableslot machine, and screened for pathological gambling symptom severity using the South Oaks Gambling Screen(SOGS). The results showed that pathological gambling sufferers had significantly higher response frequencythan non-problem gamblers, and that response frequency was significantly correlated with SOGS symptomseverity among pathological gambling sufferers. Finally, binary logistic regression showed that responsefrequency accurately identified 21 (95.5%) pathological gambling sufferers and 18 (85.7%) non-problemgamblers. The correlation between response frequency and SOGS may suggest a stronger reinforcement ofgambling behavior in individuals with exacerbated pathological gambling symptoms. These findings may haveimportant implications for detecting behaviors underlying pathological gambling.