Researchers Look at Link Between Gaming and Gambling, Everyone Else Misses The Point

A report was released recently by the University of Adelaide, South Australia which looked at the gambling attitudes and habits of over 2,500 12-17 years olds. The report, which is a fairly interesting read in itself, talks about the perceptions that young gamblers have about their odds of winning within certain gambling games. Card games, scratch cards and lottery’s are listed and briefly, so are videogames. The researcher, Professor Paul Delfabbro, was recently in an interview with ABC Australia’s ‘The World Today’ programme talking about his research. The lead story?

‘œStudy links video games with gambling’

Mr Delfabbro was quoted as saying:

If you look at those young people who are classified as pathological gamblers you will find that they do have a higher frequency of involvement with many different types of videogame. They’re much more likely to play games on Xboxes and similar consoles. They are also more likely to play arcade games.

A few gaming blogs (and likely more over the next few days) have jumped on the story as another attack on our beloved past time. But when looking at the research specifically, the focus is not at all on videogaming, in fact by my count their are only three mentions of videogames in the entire piece. The paper states that pathological gamblers reported placing 30% of their bets on ‘gaming machines’, the least amount, with card games being the most popular.

It is important to distinguish the difference between what sites have been reporting and what the research says, or specifically what it doesn’t; the paper doesn’t mention gaming as a cause of gambling. Instead simply another medium to be gambled on. Let’s look again at Mr Delfabbro’s quote:

If you look at those young people who are classified as pathological gamblers you will find that they do have a higher frequency of involvement with many different types of videogame.

He does not anywhere state that gaming specifically causes gambling, just that those who are already addicted to gambling use games. They are the 30% mentioned above who use it for gambling, but playing consoles did not necessarily cause their gambling addiction.

This is a massive distinction, one that ABC Australia ignores and essentially leads with a story that doesn’t exist. They’ve taken Mr. Delfabbro’s comments out of context and used them to push their anti-gaming agenda. Ironically, the gaming blogosphere has taken ABC’s message, and denounced the study, even though it really decreases the link between gambling and videogaming.

Via: Game Politics