Reinforcing Small Wins and Frustrating Near-Misses: Further Investigation Into Scratch Card Gambling

Abstract

Scratch card games are incredibly popular in the Canadian marketplace. However, only recently have researchers started to systematically analyze their structural characteristics and how these in turn affect the gambler. We present two studies designed to further understand the underlying physiological and psychological effects that scratch cards have on gamblers. We had gamblers (63 in Experiment 1, 68 in Experiment 2) play custom made scratch cards involving a small win, a regular loss and a near-miss—where they uncovered two out of the three symbols needed to win the top prize. Our predictions were that despite near-misses and losses being objectively equivalent (the gambler wins nothing) gamblers’ reactions to these outcomes would differ dramatically. During game play, skin conductance levels and heart rate were recorded, as well as how long gamblers paused between each game. Gamblers’ subjective reactions to the different outcomes were then assessed. In both studies, near-misses triggered higher levels of physiological arousal (skin conductance levels and heart rates) than losses. Gamblers paused significantly longer following small wins than other outcomes, and reported high arousal, positive affect and urge to gamble—a constellation of results consistent with their rewarding properties. Importantly near-miss outcomes were rated as highly arousing, negative in emotional tone, and the most frustrating of all three outcome types examined. In Experiment 2, when we measured subjective urge to gamble immediately after each outcome, urge to gamble was significantly higher following near-misses than regular losses. Thus, despite not rewarding the gambler with any monetary gain, these outcomes nevertheless triggered higher arousal and larger urges to gamble than regular losses, a finding that may explain in part, the allure of scratch cards as a gambling activity.

Gambling on Smartphones: A Study of a Potentially Addictive Behaviour in a Naturalistic Setting

“…Four had a near miss outcome, counterbalanced so that in half the stimuli the near miss was XXO, and in half OXX because participants could remove the overlay in either direction. Previous studies of scratchcard gambling have instructed participants to reveal the card from left to right [19,20]. The remaining 10 cards were losses.…”

Built-in bad luck: Evidence of near-miss outcomes by design in scratch cards

“…Studies examining the player experiences of near-miss outcomes, as previously discussed, may help to elucidate an answer. These types of outcomes exert strong effects on a player's physiological arousal (Stange et al, 2016(Stange et al, , 2017. When players experience a near-miss, the autonomic nervous system is activated such that a cascade of physiological changes occur: skin conductance increases, heart rate rises, and the player becomes aroused.…”

“…In addition to this increase in arousal, near-miss outcomes also fuel player frustration from having just narrowly missed a large prize. Although resulting in the same net loss, near-misses are consistently rated as a more frustrating outcome type when compared to regular losses that do not involve a near-miss (Stange et al, 2016(Stange et al, , 2017. This frustration and increase in physiological arousal may then influence a player's desire to continue gambling and his or her subsequent gambling behaviour.…”

“…Scratch card near-misses also increase subjective arousal, frustration, negative emotion, and disappointment (Stange et al, 2016(Stange et al, , 2017. Critically, these outcomes also lead to higher ratings of urge to continue gambling (Stange et al, 2017;Stange, Graydon, & Dixon, in press), over and above that of regular losses. For example, Stange et al (in press) gave participants the option to purchase additional scratch cards from the experimenter after the participants had experienced various outcomes during gameplay.…”

“…effects on the player. Similarly to slot machine near-misses, scratch card near-misses have been shown to increase physiological arousal, as measured by skin conductance (Stange et al, 2016) and heart rate (Stange, Grau, Osazuwa, Graydon, & Dixon, 2017). Scratch card near-misses also increase subjective arousal, frustration, negative emotion, and disappointment (Stange et al, 2016(Stange et al, , 2017.…”