disordered gambling

Responsible gaming programs are intended to prevent or reduce potential gambling-related harms (Blaszczynski, Ladouceur, & Shaffer, 2004). Examples of such programs range from brochures about disordered gambling to helping gamblers keep track of money wagered through “smart cards.” But are these programs effective? A recently published study by Drs. Lia Nower and Alex Blaszczynski, “Gambling Motivations, Money-Limiting Strategies, and Pre-commitment Preferences of Problem Versus Non-Problem Gamblers,” demonstrates that rigorous scientific research is vital to determining the effectiveness of a responsible gaming strategy. This study also shows that such investigations have to consider the motivations of gamblers who get into trouble and the viability of the program – in this case, the use of smart cards – in real-life gambling situations.

The American Psychiatric Association currently is in the process of updating the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to its fifth edition (DSM-V). The DSM is the handbook of mental disorders in the United States, used daily by health care providers, researchers, insurance companies and government agencies. The DSM-V Work Group that reviewed the diagnosis for pathological gambling has proposed several changes to the diagnostic definition of the disorder. Revisions in diagnostic codes are typically driven by evolving research that transforms our understanding of a disorder, and so this month’s Issues & Insights summarizes several studies that question the current definition of pathological gambling and, in some cases, might inform the final recommendations for the DSM-V.

March Madness refers not just to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s basketball tournament, but also to the uptick in gambling activity that ranges from office pools to betting online. An increased awareness during this time of year about gambling on college sports usually leads to questions about gambling by college students. Consequently, we have devoted the March edition of Issues & Insights to new research on college gambling.

To understand why tribal governments are reluctant to allow “outside” researchers to study their communities, consider the following story. In 2004, the Havasupai Tribe filed a lawsuit against Arizona State University (ASU) charging that ASU researchers had misused blood samples taken from tribal members who had been told that the sample material would be used for a study on the genetics of diabetes. The Havasupai later learned that the samples were also used for research on schizophrenia, inbreeding and migration patterns, without the tribe’s consent.