Conceptualising emotional and cognitive dysregulation amongst sports bettors; an exploratory study of ‘tilting’ in a new context

Abstract

Tilting is a poker-related phenomenon that involves cognitive and emotional dysregulation in response to unfavourable gambling outcomes. Tilting is characterised by an increase in irrational, impulsive and strategically weak betting decisions. This study aimed to adapt and investigate the concept of tilting amongst sport bettors in order to provide preliminary insight regarding previously unexplored instances of maladaptive sports betting. The sample consisted of 225 sports bettors who completed an online questionnaire that investigated their reported tilting episodes, awareness of tilting, impulsivity, perceived skill, gambling severity, gambling frequency, and product preferences. Cluster analyses revealed three distinct groups of sports bettors based on their reported tilting episodes and their awareness of this phenomenon. The first group were labelled ‘Conscious tilters’ due to being cognizant of their own tilting occurrence which was significantly higher than the other two groups. These ‘Conscious tilters’ had the highest mean problem gambling severity that was indicative of the ‘problem gambler’ categorisation. The second group were labelled ‘Unconscious tilters’ due to their underestimation of their own tilting occurrence and were categorised as ‘moderate risk gamblers’. The third group were labelled ‘Non-tilters’ due to a relatively accurate perception of their low to non-existent tilting occurrence and were categorised as ‘low-risk gamblers’. Additionally, there were significant differences between these groups in relation to reported gambling frequency, impulsivity, and product preferences. There is evidence of various classifications of ‘tilters’ within sports betting. Specific sports betting product features may also facilitate tilting and therefore require further research in this context. It is important for this research area to develop in order to mitigate harms associated with the rapidly changing sport betting environment.

Having a positive attitude or doing good deeds? An experimental investigation of poker players’ responses to the Gambling Fallacies Measure

“…Participants in both samples engaged with short online experiments, and mischievous or inattentive responding could have affected data quality, given the lack of incentivecompatible rewards. Participants were selected based on their engagement with only one skill-based gambling format, and other patterns could occur among for example skilled sports bettors, where "tilt" has also been suggested by researchers as a potential consideration (Torrance et al, 2022). Future research should therefore investigate similar issues among skilled/professional sports bettors.…”

analysis of the impact of pressure on performance among professional darts players

“…Before proceeding with the main analysis, it is worth considering a phenomenon in darts that can be likened to "tilting" in poker. Tilting refers to moments of emotional upset where a poker player makes irrational decisions influenced by past failures (Torrance et al, 2022). In the context of darts, whether similar emotional factors affect players' performance can also be examined.…”