The mobile gambling market has been increasing globally in recent years and the number of people using gambling apps is predicted to rise significantly. This is despite a general trend towards the liberalisation of gambling laws in many countries. The growth of this new market necessitates consideration of whether it has the potential to be a source of addiction and what behavioural features might distinguish it from other forms of gambling.
The use of smartphones has made it easier to access gambling apps and the internet. In addition to this, it is now possible to place wagers using the mobile phone, as has been seen with the advent of sports betting in the US after the Supreme Court struck down PASPA (Poker Players Association of America) in 2018. However, there is little empirical research that examines behaviour when gambling on a smartphone. This article aims to begin filling this gap in the literature.
To do this, a study was designed to observe participants’ mobile gambling behaviour using a specially designed app that they were asked to install on their phone. This enabled the researchers to observe each gamble and collect contextual data from their phones such as location, activity and other app usage both before and after gambling.
In addition, they were asked to answer a series of questions about their motivation to gamble and their experience with the app. Finally, each time they made a gamble the GPS co-ordinates of their smartphone were recorded and compared with the location of the gambling app. The participants were asked to explicitly opt-in to the recording of this data.
The results from this study suggest that the behaviour of participants was highly variable but that it was consistent with previous behavioural and cognitive models of gambling. For example, the reinforcement schedules commonly used in gambling are shown to be resistant to extinction and models of problem gambling emphasize how the sensation-seeking effects of losing and winning may make it difficult to stop gambling after a loss. The occurrence of these patterns in mobile gambling is particularly concerning, as it could potentially lead to pathological levels of harm.
It should be noted that this study was conducted in a sample of people recruited through a casino gambling app and therefore may not be representative of the wider population of mobile gamblers. It is also limited in its ability to capture behavioural measures of problem gambling and the results should be validated using a clinical sample. Nonetheless, the findings provide a pathway for future research into the behaviour of mobile gamblers and suggest that this type of technology has the potential to be a significant source of addiction. This is a pressing concern given the growing prevalence of these devices. The study of smartphone and other technology-mediated addictive behaviour should be rigorous and focus on specific behaviours rather than broader categories such as media use. This will help to avoid the risk of overgeneralizing the finding that all smartphone use is associated with increased risk of addiction.