Sensation seeking, gambling and gambling addictions · sensation seekers as high sensation seekers "might well prefer to choose from a wide range of sporting and social activities

Addiction (1993) 88, 541-554

RESEARCH REPORT

Sensation seeking, gambling and gamblingaddictions

KENNY R. COVENTRY' & R. IAIN F. BROWN^

^Department of Psychology, University of Dundee, Dundee DDl 4HN, Scotland &^Department of Psychology, Adam Smith Building, University of Glasgow, GlasgowG12 8RT, Scotland

AbstractMale off-course bettors were assessed using: the Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS) Form V, two measures ofsubjective arousal while betting, and questions concerning chasing, preferences for gambling activities andother aspects of betting behaviour. The SSS was also administered to a random sample of the male generalpopulation of Glasgow, together with questions concerning preferences for gambling activities to allowcomparison between regular gamblers and the general population. In comparison with the general populationand with non-gamblers, off-course bettors scored lower on SSS; gamblers preferring the casino and/or therace-track scored higher on SSS; gamblers betting on many different forms scored higher on SSS. A furtheranalysis produced a cluster of variables among off-course betters associated with impaired control of gambling,among which both SSS scores and chasing were prominent features.

A central feature of all gambling has been ob-served to be the subjective excitement or arousalit appears to engender (Boyd, 1976). This ob-servation is supported by reports fromquestionnaires and surveys that excitement is amain reason cited by gamblers as to why theygamble (Anderson & Brown, 1984; Scame,1975; Commission on the Review of NationalPolicy Towards Gambling in America, 1976).The existence of increases in arousal while gam-bling has received much empirical support(Anderson & Brown, 1984; Leary & Dickerson,

This paper was presented at the Eighth International Confer-ence on Gambling and Risk Taking, London, August 1990, andwill be published in the proceedings of that conference. Thework was carried out as part of the degree of BSc Honours inPsychology at the University of Glasgow. Requests for reprintsshould be addressed to either author.

1985; Dickerson & Adcock, 1987). Anderson &Brown, for example, found increases in heart-rate of up to 58 beats/minute for frequentgamblers during blackjack play in a casino. Thesize of the observed increases supports the im-portance of arousal as a variable in theexplanation of gambling behaviour (Brown,1986). There is also evidence to suggest thathigher arousal is associated with greater persis-tence (Dickerson & Adcock, 1987) and morewithdrawal symptoms when trying to abstain(Wray & Dickerson, 1981).

Within a learning theory conceptualization ofpersistent betting arousal has been hypothesizedto act as a reinforcer on a frxed interval schedule(Dickerson, 1977, 1979, 1984; Saunders, 1981)together with the more commonly hypothesizedvariable schedule of cash won (Skinner, 1953;

541

542 Kenny R. Coventry & R. Iain F. Brown

Knapp, 1976). The relationship between arousaland chasing suggests that arousal as a reinforcermay be a more important determinant of loss ofcontrol (Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre, 1987;Blaszczynski, Wilson & McConaghy, 1986). Thelearning theory conceptualization, however, isunable to account for the fact that only a smallpercentage of gamblers lose control to the extentto which their gambling becomes problematic(Commission on the Review of National PolicyToward Gambling, 1976; Kallick, Suits, Diel-man & Hybels, 1979). Brown (1986) hasattempted to integrate the roles of arousal andsensation seeking among many other factors inthe development of an individual's gambling fre-quency from low through regular to excessivegambling, and Blaszczynski & McConaghy(1989) have developed this still further.

Zuckerman's Sensation-Seeking Scale is basedon the theory that individual differences exist inthe need for optimal levels of stimulation. Hepostulated sensation seeking to be a biologicallybased personality dimension with sensation seek-ers identified as those who seek varied, novel orcomplex sensations or experience*. High sensa-tion seekers appraise risk as less and anticipatearousal as being more positive than low sensationseekers (i.e. the 'surgery-elation effect', Zucker-man, 1979, 1983).

Alone among theories of individual differencesZuckerman's (1979) account of sensation seek-ing makes explicit predictions concerning aperson's preference for gambling. Studies haveshown significant associations between sensa-tion-seeking scores and drug abuse, sexexperience, involvement in risky sports and vol-unteering for sensory deprivation experiments,encounter groups and gambling instruction(Zuckerman, 1983). Zuckerman suggested a re-lationship between gambling and the trait ofsensation seeking in which "individuals entertainthe risk of monetary loss for the positive rein-forcement produced by states of high arousalduring the periods of uncertainty, as well as thepositive arousal produced by winning" (Zucker-man, 1979, p. 211). The evidence forZuckerman's hypothesis is, however, not clear.

Anderson & Brovm (1984) found higher SSSscores to correlate positively with greater in-creases in heart-rate and bet size duringblackjack play, although as a group the meanscores of the blackjack players did not differsignificantly from a non-gambling control group

of students. Kuley & Jacobs (1987) point outthat the lack of significant differences betweenthe gamblers and controls in the Anderson &Brown study could be a result of the lack ofcontrol for the variable of age. Anderson &Brown reported that their sample of gamblerswere between the ages of 20 and 48 years andthe controls ranged from 21 to 28 years. Themean age was not reported. As sensation-seekingscores have been found to correlate negativelywith age (Zuckerman et al., 1978) then the rela-tionship between sensation seeking and gamblingmust remain inconclusive from Anderson &Brown's study. However, Leary & Dickerson'sfinding of significantly greater increases inarousal during poker machine play in high-frequency gamblers as compared with low-fre-quency gamblers adds extra support for thehypothesis that gambling is positively related tosensation seeking.

Neurobiological substrates of gamblingZuckerman (1983) has attempted to elucidatethe relationships of serotonin levels, brainmonoamine oxidase (MAO) and endorphins tovariations in scores on the Sensation-SeekingScale without reaching striking clarity. In a morerecent study in features of the brain chemistry ofaddicted gamblers, Roy et al. (1988) measuredlevels of noradrenaline, monoamine metabolitesand peptides in cerebrospinal fluid, plasma andurine. Based on the hypothesis developed anddescribed in Carlton & Manowitz (1987), theyexpected to find low levels of serotonin metabo-lite which would have indicated that addictedgamblers had poor impulse control, but insteadthey found a pattern of biochemical indicatorswhich pointed towards a significantly differentpattern of noradrenaline metabolites, indicating"a functional disturbance of the noradrenergicsystem" which, they rioted, had been postulatedto underlie sensation-seeking behaviours.

Roy's study did not include a direct measure-ment of sensation seeking but extraversion asmeasured by the EPQ was found in the samesample to be "highly significantly correlated withindexes of adrenergic function" in pathologicalgamblers, and Roy concluded that this suggestedthat "the disturbance in the central noradrener-gic system in pathological gamblers may bepartly reflected in their personality" (Roy, deJong & Linnoila, 1989, p. 679).

Sensation seeking, gambling and gambling addictions 543

It appears that the early psychological work onthe role of arousal in persistent regular gamblinghas been corrobrated by the psychobiologists(Carlton & Monowitz, 1987; Roy et al, 1988;Roy et al., 1989). Gambling problems are addic-tions rather than disorders of impulse controland the existence of a role of arousal linked withpossible personality features of sensation seekingor extraversion within the development of theaddiction has been affirmed.

The relationship between Eysenck's extraver-sion and psychoticism scales and Zuckerman'ssensation seeking is complex. Both sensationseeking and extraversion have been related to theconstruct of an "optimal level of stimulation"(Eysenck, 1967; Zuckerman, 1969, 1974) butsensation seeking has been found to correlatemoderately but highly significantly with bothEysenck's extraversion and his psychoticismsuperfactors (Eysenck & Zuckerman, 1978).Zuckerman (1979) has interpreted these rela-tionships as indicating that sensation seekingmay relate more directly to a rotation of thefactors in Eysenck's psychological space andtherefore to Gray's separate reward and punish-ment systems (Gray, 1972) and to his conceptsof biological pessimism and optimism (Brown,1986). More recently (Zuckerman, Kuhlman &Camac, 1988), sensation seeking has come to beseen as closer to Eysenck's psychoticism ratherthan his extraversion.

Problems in any simple relationship be-tween sensation seeking and gamblingMore recent studies suggest that Zuckerman'ssimple predicted relationship between gamblingand sensation seeking cannot have been accu-rate. Blaszczynski et al. (1986) found that agroup of male pathological gamblers presentingfor treatment had significantly lower than aver-age SSS total scores. Although it can be arguedthat the questionnaire responses of persons incrisis may differ significantly from their typicalresponses, Blaszczynski et aFs. data matchedexistent norms with respect to age and extrover-sion which lends support to the validity of theirfindings.

Dickerson, Hinchy & Eabre (1987) foundlower than average SSS scores in a sample ofnon-treatment seeking off-course bettors. Theysuggest that off-course betting is favoured by low

sensation seekers as high sensation seekers"might well prefer to choose from a wide rangeof sporting and social activities rather than bet inan off-course betting agency commonly set in ashopping centre or play poker machines at theirlocal social club" (Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre,1987, p. 674). They point out that casinogambling, card clubs, betting at the race trackand some illegal forms of gambling may remainexceptions to a general relationship between sen-sation seeking and gambling diametricallyopposed to that proposed by Zuckerman, andconfirms the need for researchers not to assumethat gambling is an homogeneous activity.

This need is further confirmed by a study inpersonality differences as measured by theMMPI between gamblers participating in gamesof luck and those gamblers participating ingames of skill, suggesting that different personal-ity types choose different forms of gambling(Adkins, Kreudelbach & Toohig, 1987).

Starr & Potashner (1984) suggest that someforms of gambling activity may be more easilysubstituted for one another. They found,through cluster analysis of protocols from 197adult subjects, that adult gambling activitiesgroup into four distinct quadrants with the twodimensions being casino vs non-casino and seri-ous vs recreational.

Blaszczynski, Winter & McConaghy (1984)found that specifically horse-race addicts hadsignificantly lower baseline Beta-endorphin levelsas compared to poker-machine players and con-trols. They too concluded that this suggests thatdistinct subgroups of gamblers exist and raisesthe possibility that different aetiological factorsmay characterize each subgroup.

Factors reviewed above suggest that it may beuseful to distinguish, after Cornish (1978), thosedeterminants of gambling which govern thechoice of type or form of gambling from thosegoverning the way in which a particular form is'used' by the individual.

Kuley & Jacobs (1987) found that problemgamblers scored significantly higher than socialgamblers on the Sensation Seeking total scoreand on the Disinhibition, Experience Seekingand Boredom Susceptibility, subscales. Therewas no control for the type or form of gamblingparticipated in and it is possible that the resultsrelate sensation seeking to a wide range of differ-ences in the choice of form among their samplerather than to the way in which all forms were


SSS Subscales

Thrilland

I adventureI seeking

Experienceseeking

Disinhibition

0.31"

0.32"

Level

of

betting

0.22* Chasing

/

//

(0.28),

Boredomsusceptibiiity

0.43"Arousai

*p<0.05*p<0.01 (1 p = 0.076)

Figure 1. Schema of variables that may contribute to loss of control of betting (From: Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre, 1987).

used. Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre (1987) foundthat total SSS scores and subscale scores onExperience Seeking and Disinhibition were asso-ciated with greater expenditures of time andmoney and other general measures of level ofinvolvement in betting. Boredom Susceptibilitysubscale scores were also found to be linked tosubjective reports of arousal while betting. Theyspeculate that these sensation seeking character-istics in off-course gamblers may be a "possiblepredisposing route to loss of control of bettingand eventual problematic or pathological gam-bling." These possible predisposing factors in thesensation seeking of off-course bettors whichmay lead them to loss of control and gambling to

excess were summarized by Dickerson, Hinchy& Fabre in Fig. 1.

The present study is in part a near replicationof the Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre's work exam-ining chasing, arousal and sensation seeking inoff-course gamblers, but in addition an attemptis made to examine the relationship betweensensation seeking and preference for gamblingactivities in a sample of the general population.

Past studies investigating the relationshipbetween gambling and sensation seeking havecompared the scores of gamblers to those of thegeneral population. But Downes et al. (1976)estimated that 27% of men and 7% of women inthe UK bet at least occasionally in betting


offices, and that 17% of men and 2% of womenbet there regularly (not to mention the peoplegambling on other forms). Hence gamblers havein the past been compared to a general popula-tion sample containing a significant proportionof gamblers plus the non-gamblers that they arebeing compared with. Attempts were also madeto control for another possible confoundingfactor in the Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre study,the lack of control for other possible forms ofgambling that the off-course bettors may haveparticipated in.

MethodThere were two groups of subjects: a group ofgamblers (n = 79) from off-course betting officesand a sample of the general population of thecity of Glasgow (n = 96). All subjects were male.Female subjects were excluded from the study asthe vast majority of gamblers that gamble in theoff-course betting office are male (Downes et aL,1976) and also because women are lower sensa-tion seekers than men, and it was thought that asmall number of women in the sample mayunnecessarily complicate the analysis.

A six page battery of questionnaires was usedcomprising:

(a) The Sensation-Seeking Scale (SSS) FormV (Zuckerman, 1979).

(b) Questions concerning frequency of gam-bling behaviour and the number of dif-ferent forms of gambling participated in.

(c) Demographic data on sex, marital status,age and employment.

(d) A 4-item subscale of the State portion ofthe State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spiel-berger et al., 1970), used previously byDickerson et al. (Leary & Dickerson,1985; Dickerson & Adcock, 1987) andespecially by Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre(1987) as a measure of subjective arousal.Subjects were asked to answer about howthey usually felt when waiting for theresult of a race on which they had bet tobe announced.

(e) A version of the Awareness of AutonomicActivity (AAA) scale. This is an 11-itemscale developed by Mandler et al. (Man-dler, Mandler & Uviller, 1958; Mandler,Mandler, Kremen & Sholiton, 1961;Mandler & Kremen, 1958) and adapted

by Kissen, Brown & Kissen (1969). Theinclusion of the scale was validated on twocounts. Firstly, because it is extremelyeasy to complete, it was hoped that therewould be few blank returns (only 50% ofoff-course bettors who returned question-naires in the Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabrestudy completed the 4-item Spielbergersubscale). Secondly, the inclusion of twomeasures of subjective arousal enabled anexamination of the relationship betweenthe two.

(f) A question concerning chasing, "Whenyou are behind or losing, how often doyou chase your losses? In order words,how often do you start placing more betsonce you've had a few losers? Never, occa-sionally, usually, nearly always?"

(g) Questions concerning betting behaviourwhich have been associated with loss ofcontrol. These included items which havebeen used and associated with out ofcontrol betting behaviour previously(Dickerson, 1977, 1979, 1984; Dickerson,Hinchy & Fabre, 1987; Kuley & Jacobs,1987; Custer, Meeland & Krug, 1984).

(h) Questions relating to cash involvement inbetting, including bet size and amount ofexpenditure on one day on gambling.

Procedure: off-course bettors sampleThe sample of off-course bettors came fromeight off-course betting agencies in the Glasgowarea, selected to cover different types of location(city centre, shopping centre and industrial), toensure a wide selection of bettors from differentareas of Glasgow and included both large chainand private offices. All agencies were approachedbeforehand and the co-operation of staff secured,with the exception of one agency which refusedto allow the study to take place. This agency wasreplaced with one which was similarly situated.Times of the day and days of the week weresystematically chosen to ensure that lunchtime,afternoon and weekend customers were sampled.

Bettors were selected as those people whoentered the office after the data collector, orpeople who were already in the office if thenumber was small enough to avoid experimeterbias. They were never approached during theraces themselves (i.e. during the race commen-tary) or while placing bets as it would be more of


an invasion of privacy as these stages have beenseen as central in the betting process (Dickerson,1977, 1979, 1984), but instead when leaving theoffice or between races.

If the subject agreed to take a questionnaire hewas instructed to return it to the data collector orto hand it in behind the counter in that particu-lar office next time he was in. The data collectorsconsisted of one psychology student and threeregular gamblers well acquainted with the agen-cies in question. The staff behind the counter ineach office were all aware of the methods of datacollection, and helped to encourage high returnrates from the bettors they were acquainted with.

Procedure: sample of the general populationA random sample of 200 males from the generalpopulation of Glasgow was selected from theGlasgow Electoral Voters' Register by selectingevery 2437th name ensuring representativesfrom all 66 electoral wards (i.e. voting areas), thenumber from each ward varying depending onthe size of the ward. If the name at the numberreached was female, the male name nearest tothat position in the role was selected.

Although it has been estimated that over 80%of the population are reachable by telephone(Belson, 1986) the possibility of selecting namesfrom the telephone directory and phoning arandom sample was ruled out due to possibleconfounding variables (such as experimenter biasmanifested in alterations in pitch of voice, etc.),unnecessary expense (it was estimated that eachcall would last 20 minutes) and for the simplereason that the number of registered voters isgreater than the number of people who havetelephones.

Once the names were selected questionnaireswere posted out to each subject with a stamped-addressed envelope for return. Each of theaddressed envelopes were secretly encoded in-side in order that the sample could be examinedto see if it was a representative sample of theGlasgow population with respect to wardscovered and to allow the analysis of social classfactors. For ethical reasons the original nameschosen from the electoral role were left out, andonly the ward areas were recorded by code.

ResultsOf the 143 male off-course bettors approached.

10 refrised, and 79 (55%) returned a question-naire. The mean age was 40.7 years (SD 17.3,range 19-74). Ninety-four per cent reported bet-ting once a week or more often.

Of the bettors samples, 34% reported them-selves as never chasing; 26% as occasionally;17% as usually; and 23% as nearly always. Table1 illustrates the relationship between chasing andquestions relating to loss of control of gamblingand gambling expenditure.

The short form of the State portion of theState-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire was com-pleted fully by only 56 subjects. The remainderchecked only one or two of the subscales, andtheir records were excluded on this component.The mean score of those completing the scalewas 8.61 (SD 3.89, range 4-16) which is similarto that reported by poker machine players whilebetting (Dickerson & Adcock, 1987) and off-course bettors from Australia while betting(Dickerson, Hinchy & Fabre, 1987).

The other measure of subjective arousal used,the Awareness of Autonomic Activity scale wasfully completed by 73 subjects. The remainderleft several of the items blank, and their recordswere excluded on this component. The meanscore was 15.6 (SD 6.14, range 11-38).

The Pearson Product-Moment correlationbetween the AAA scale and the Spielberger sub-scale was 0.485 (p< 0.001 two-tailed).

All 79 of the off-course bettors completedZuckerman's Sensation-Seeking Scale. Themean total score was 16.86 (SD 7.38, range2-39, with mean subscale scores of 4.25 for TAS(SD 2.74, range 0—10), 4.10 for ES (SD 2.04,range 1-9). 4.59 for Dis (SD 2.91, range 0-10)and 3.91 for BS (SD 2.24, range 0-10).Significant negative correlations of the SSS totaland subscale scores with age were found, withthe strongest relationship for the total scale score(r= -0.675, p< 0.001) and the Dis subscale(r= -0.6742, />< 0.001). Correlations for theES and BS subscales were r= 0.421 {p < 0.001)and r - 0.250 (p < 0.05) and the correlation forthe TAS subscale was r= -0.61 (p< 0.001).

The relationship between sensation seekingand other variables of interest central to thestudy is illustrated in Table 2. A measure of'frequency of betting' was derived by multiplyingthe reported frequency of betting each week withthe total time spent during each episode of bet-ting. 'Loss of control' refers to a score which


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Table 3. Gambling in the general population, and the relationship to sensation seeking

SSS totalTASESDisBS

Non-gamblers(n = 51)

16.45.33.94.13.1

Off-course betting(no other forms)

(«=15)

14.13.53.83.83.0

Participation intwo forms(n=10)

18.46.34.45.12.6

Casino amonggambling activities

(« = 7)

22.07.25.46.23.2

resulted from the summation of questions relat-ing to loss of control.

From the random sample of the male popula-tion of Glasgow, 52% of the questionnaireswhich reached the subjects who had not movedhouse or could be located by the Post Officewere returned. The return rate did not differfrom ward to ward. The mean age of the subjectswho returned questionnaires was 38.82 years(SD 17.46, range 18-76). No significant differ-ences in social class were apparent whencomparing data from the sample to figures forthe whole of the Glasgow population as given inthe ward profiles introduction to the electoralregister.

All of the 96 males who returned question-naires completed the Sensation-Seeking Scale.The mean total SSS score was 17.53 (SD 7.96,range 2-37), with mean subscale scores of 5.23for TAS (SD 7.96, range 0-10), 4.26 for ES (SD1.96, range 0-9), 4.64 for Dis (SD 2.73, range0-10) and 3.48 for BS (SD 2.24, range 0-10). Agreater decline in age was observed for TAS andDis than for ES and BS. This is in accordancewith previous results (Zuckerman et al, 1978;Zuckerman, 1979, 1983).

The sample of the Glaswegian off-coursebettors were compared to the sample of theGlaswegian population on the sensation-seekingdimension. The off-course bettors scoredsignificantly lower than the general populationon the TAS {t = 2.118, p < 0.05). The gamblers(i.e. off-course bettors) also scored lower on thetotal SSS and on the Dis and ES subscales(although this trend did not reach significance).The off-course bettors scored higher than thegeneral population on the BS subscale (but notsignificantly).

Since the mean age of the sample of off-coursebettors (40.7) did not differ significantly fromthe mean age of the general population (38.8)and the profiles of changes in SSS with age was

so similar for both samples, it was not judgednecessary to perform and analysis of covarianceto demonstrate the independence of differencesin sensation seeking between the two samplesfirom age effects.

Of the general population sample, 47%reported gambling on one form or more. Thirty-two subjects reported gambling on one form; 10subjects reported gambling on two forms; and3-subjects reported gambling on more than twoforms. The relationship between sensation seek-ing, number of gambling activities participatedin, and type of gambling in those who gamble inthe general population is illustrated in Table 3.There is a trend (not reaching significance) withnon-gamblers scoring higher on the SSS totaland on all the subscales than those who gamblein the off-course betting office. Gamblers whogamble on two forms of gambling are similarlyhigher scorers on the SSS total and suhscalesthan non-gamblers (with the exception of the ESsubscale), but this trend does not reach levels ofsignificance. Those who gamble in the casinoscored higher than any of the other groups men-tioned on all the SSS subscales and on the totalSSS (although, once again not to a significantlevel).

An analysis of the off-course bettors samplewith respect to other forms of gambling partici-pated in and sensation seeking is shown in Table4. Similar results were found to those for thegeneral population, with those participating inoff-course betting and nothing else scoring lowerthan the general population on the total SSS andall the subscales. Off-course bettors who gambleon three or more additional forms of gambling inthe casino or at the race-track were found to behigher scorers than the general population on thetotal SSS and on all the subscales.

A principal components varimax factor analy-sis with orthogonal rotation was carried out onthe variables involved in the off-course betting


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Factor

1234

56789

10

Eigenvalue

8.979602.544072.121781.79889

1.560221.369551.184951.061040.975990.86242

Percentage of variance

32.19.17.66.2

5.64.94.23.83.53.1

Loading of variables on factor 1(varimax rotation)*

Size of betSpending more than intendedExpenditure on gamblingAcknowledge problems controlling levels ofgamblingSpending all spare cashSubjective arousal while bettingSpending longer than planned in the officeAfter winning, want to return to v«n moreAmount of time per day spent gamblingNumber of days a week spent gamblingSSS totalChasing

0.860.840.79

0.620.560.560.560.560.510.470.400.36

*Only loadings over 0.3 are reported.

office (i.e. hence the ofF-course bettors samplewas used). The results are displayed in Table 5with the factor loadings of variables on factor

DiscussionThe sample, and therefore the findings from it,appear to be broadly representative of the malepopulations of off-course bettors and non-gam-blers in the city of Glasgow. There were very fewrefusers among the off-course bettors; over halfof the questionnaires that reached the generalpopulation were returned. Strong relationshipsof total and subscale scores of the SensationSeeking Scale to age were found, but with theBoredom Susceptibility Scale showing theweakest effect, which is a typical finding in ear-her studies (Zuckerman et al, 1978; Zuckerman,1979; Zuckerman & Neeb, 1980; Blaszczynski etal., 1986; Dickerson et al., 1987). The correla-tions within the the SSS are typical of previousreports. Comparison between returners and non-returners from the general population showed nosignificant differences in social class, occupationand areas of return and the SSS scores of themale general population show the same relation-ships to age and among the subscales as provideevidence of concurrent validity for the bettorssample.

The results of the general population sampleprobably generalize quite well to the populationof the UK as a whole. Scottish norms for theSSS have hitherto been drawn from undergradu-ate populations. This sample covers all agegroups randomly, and when compared to ex-

isting English norms (Zuckerman, Eysenck &Eysenck, 1978) looks very similar indeed. Sincethere is no known reason to suspect that Glaswe-gian off-course bettors are in any way differentfrom those of the remainder of the UK, it islikely that the present findings are broadly repre-sentative of the UK as a whole.

The comparison of the SSS scores betweenthe gamblers sample and the general populationshows consistent differences in the direction oflower sensation seeking among the off-coursebettors, although the only statistically significantdifference is on the TAS subscale. Thesefindings concur with the previous findings ofBlaszczynski et al. (1986) and Dickerson et al(1987). Closer scrutiny of the data, separatingthe general population out into different groups(including a group of non-gamblers) and sepa-rating the off-course bettors into different groups(with reference to the number of other activitiesparticipated in, and the nature of those gamblingactivities) reveals important relationships insensation seeking between types of gambling par-ticipated in and the number of forms ofgambling participated in. As Dickerson, Hinchy& Fabre (1987) suggested, off-course bettors asa group are lower sensation seekers than thegeneral population. In contrast, casino gamblersand gamblers who go to the race-track are highersensation seekers than the general population.The number of gambling forms participated in isalso an important factor. Involvement in manydifferent forms of gambling is associated withhigh SSS.

The relationships depicted bear a close


resemblance to predictions from previous re-search. The preference of high sensation seekersfor casino and race-track gambling fits the gen-eral picture of the high sensation seeker. It alsofits the general picture of the high sensationseeker that he should be more likely to partici-pate in a number of different forms of gamblingrather than just one form, as sensation seeking isdefined by the "need for varied, novel and com-plex sensations and experiences" (Zuckerman,1979). The finding that the only statisticallysignificant difference between off-course bettorsand the general population was in the TAS sub-scale might suggest that low sensation seekers,especially, would shun the more dramatic andextravert form of sensation seeking and be morelikely to pick off-course betting in a safe, well-controlled environment close to home. Indeed, itis likely that gamblers as a whole, even thosewith the highest SSS scores, become specialistsin their sensation-seeking outlets, concentratingall their sensation-seeking in just one channel,gambling, and so fail to register the true extent oftheir commitment to sensation-seeking on a scalewhich simply sums the commitment to a varietyof sensation-seeking activities without weightingthe extent of commitment to any one singleform.

One way of conceiving of the distribution ofsensation seekers within gambling forms mightbe to combine the relationships depicted withthe dichotomy made between skill and luckgames (Adkins, Kreudelbach & Toohig, 1987),or with the serious-recreational casino-non-casino distinctions made by Starr & Potashner(1984). Off-course bettors are different and,from the characteristics of slot machine playersdepicted by Adkins, Kreudelbach & Toohig(1987), slots players can be predicted to be lowersensation seekers also, possibly the lowest of all.Other typologies and subgroups of gamblers arecurrently being identified (Griffiths, 1991;Fisher, 1993). Certainly the relationship ofsensation-seeking to preference for form of gam-bling activities is more complex thanZuckerman's original prediction suggests and itnow seems an essential requirement of futureresearch methodology in gambling that it shouldcontrol for the likely differences between forms.

Focusing now on the sample of off-coursebettors and the interrelationships between vari-ables involved, the comparison of measures ofarousal used showed that the correlation be-

tween the AAA scale and the Spielberger washighly significant, but it is suggested that theAAA is a better measure, both because it isearlier to complete (73 subjects completed it asopposed to 56), and because it has a greaterability to detect significant differences in arousalthan the subscale of the STAI (possibly due tothe higher completion rate). This can be readilyobserved from Table 2 above.

The validity of the long entertained assump-tion that chasing is a central variable of interestin the generation of problematic levels of gam-bling is supported by the relationships betweenchasing and aspects of control (Table 1 above)such as spending more than planned, gamblinglonger than planned, and attempting to stop, aswell as with more direct admissions to havingproblems controlling levels of gambling. Chasingtherefore may be a central characteristic of acomplex of experiences which are concernedwith the subjective control of gambling be-haviour (these results concur with those ofDickerson, Hinchy & Fabre, 1987). However, inthe present sample 66% of off-course bettorsreported chasing at least occasionally. It is there-fore unlikely that chasing per se leads toproblematic levels of gambling. Lesieur (1979)suggested that an additional change in associatedcognitions is required so that the gambler comesto believe that chasing is rational before it maybecome the central feature of a major addiction.

Once inside the off-course betting office, thetotal SSS is related significantly and positively tosubjective awareness of arousal (measured by thethe AAA), bet size, expenditure on betting, lossof control, and number of other forms partici-pated in. Sensation seeking therefore seems animportant variable involved in high levels ofgambling. All the subscales of the SSS relate toarousal (as measured by the AAA), and to betsize and expenditure. No significant relationshipwas found between the subscale scores of theSpielberger and any sensation-seeking score(total or subscales).

Only the first factor emerging from the factoranalysis is discussed because, as can be seenfrom Table 6, it accounts for more than threetimes the percentage of the total variance thanany other factor. The loadings on this factor(illustrated in Table 6) include variables associ-ated with loss of control of gambling andfrequency of gambling, as well as variables re-lated to expenditure on gambling. This factor


might therefore be interpreted as representing acluster of variables associated with problematiclevels of gambling. If this is the case, then this isfurther evidence for the importance of the vari-ables of chasing and sensation-seeking, as theyload on this factor.

The results of this study give rise to someproblems surrounding Dickerson et al's (1987)'Schema of variables which may contribute toloss of control of betting', mainly because ofvalidation problems with the STAI subscale as ameasure of subjective awareness of arousal. Be-cause of this it may still be too early to speculateabout variables involved in the route to loss ofcontrol of betting. If the AAA does prove to bean effective measure, then the sensation-seekingsubscales and total may well, nevertheless,through their relationships to arousal and level ofbetting, eventually point to a predisposition tochasing and loss of control. The correlationsamong variables (see Table 2) lend some supportto this.

Scrutiny of the evidence from this study sug-gest that sensation- seeking is an importantvariable in both choice of form of gambling andin the way in which gambling develops. This isconfirmed by the psychophysiological and thepsychobiological evidence about the neural sub-strates of both sensation seeking and gambling.But the optimal level of arousal/optimal levelof stimulation model for understanding therelationship between sensation seeking and gam-bling, both 'normal' and addictive, may beconceptually too simple. A reversal theory frame-work explaining the gambler's behaviour interms of the paradoxes of felt arousal as putforward by Apter (1989) may make more sophis-ticated research and explanation possible. Theapplication of reversal theory to gambling andother addictions leaves open the possibility ofsubsuming sensation-seeking within a reversaltheory framework, or vice versa (Anderson &Brown, 1987; Brown, 1988). Nevertheless, thepresent study has shown the need for continuedinterest in sensation-seeking with respect toexplanations of gambling and excessive gamblingbehaviour.

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Sensation seeking, gambling and gambling addictions · sensation seekers as high sensation seekers "might well prefer to choose from a wide range of sporting and social activities