The WAGER (Worldwide Addiction Gambling Education Report) is a great resource for keeping up with new research on gambling and gambling disorders. This online science review is published by the Division on Addictions at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The WAGER is one of a number of publications available through the Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS).
This month’s edition of The WAGER – Vol. 15(5) – explores data from a 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey suggesting that how many different games a gambler plays (gambling involvement) may be a better predictor of disordered gambling than which games are played. This concept contradicts the conventional wisdom that certain activities, like Internet gambling, are inherently more “addictive” than others. As always, we welcome thoughts and questions in the comments section below.