Erroneous beliefs among frequent fruit-machine gamblers

Carla-Jane R. Strickland, University of Southampton
Annie Taylor, University of Southampton
Katie J. Hendon, University of Southampton
Steve Provost, Southern Cross University
Lewis A. Bizo, Southern Cross University

Abstract

The present studies investigated the extent to which fruit-machine gamblers held erroneous beliefs, specifically the illusion of control and gambler’s fallacy. In Study 1, 9 participants were interviewed and their audiotaped responses submitted to a thematic analysis, which suggested that the 4 frequent gamblers were more likely to express beliefs and statements consistent with the cognitive biases of illusion of control and the gambler’s fallacy than the 5 infrequent gamblers. This observation was confirmed in the second study when the Gamblers’ Beliefs Questionnaire (GBQ) was completed by 37 participants (10 frequent gamblers, 11 infrequent gamblers and 16 non-gamblers). Frequent fruit machine gamblers were more inclined than infrequent fruit machine gamblers to express beliefs consistent with the cognitive biases, the illusion of control and the gambler’s fallacy.