Crocodiles Help Scientists Unlock The Causes of Problem Gambling.

Strange but true: Crocodiles are giving scientist clues into the problem of gambling addictions and the triggers that lead some people to develop gambling addictions.

It is widely known that one facet of gambling lures people to play, and that is the excitement factor. Gambling is shown to increase all kinds of bodily functions, from heart rate to brain activity say Dr Mathew Rockloff or the Central Queensland University in Bundaberg.

The gambling environment provides people with many unique psychological experiences, such as feelings of luck and exhilaration, and many psychologists have argued that these experiences add to the risk of developing addictions or problems in relation to gambling.

The problem is further exacerbated by methods that casinos use in order to increase and induce these psychologically positive experiences and keep people coming back for more; the ringing bells, the flashing lights, the chinking of money- these all add to the atmosphere that keep people firmly in place.

"They don't know why it works but they've noticed that if they have small gaming venues, they don't make as much money as larger gaming venues," said Dr Rockloff.

Dr Rockloff also stated an interest in research considering the links between excitement and a sense a person has of ‘losing themselves in the moment’, leading to greater risk taking behaviours, and which circumstances are particularly effective at doing this.

In an earlier experiment, Dr Rockloff played white noise to people who were in the process of gambling. He found that the presence of white noise increased the intensity with which people played, both in terms of the speed of play and the amounts that were being wagered.

"If you do that in a casino environment, you're going to lose more money more quickly." Said Dr Rockloff.

He subsequently wished to discover more subtle ways of reducing excitement in people and to test whether this had any effect on their gambling habits.

To do this he created an experiment involving 103 participants who were visiting a crocodile farm in Queensland and asked them to play an Electronic Gaming Machine (EGM) on a laptop.

The control group in the experiment were simply asked to play the game. However, the test group were asked to take a tour of the farm and then play the game; during the tour they were told exciting stories about crocodiles, such as times when they have attacked, they were also made to view several crocodile ‘tricks’ such as getting them to jump at meat, the members of this group were also able to hold a baby crocodile themselves.

Both the control group and the test group participants were given $20 to spend as credit on the gambling game, this gave them the sense that they were playing with real money as they were able to keep it following the game.

None of the participants were aware that they were part of a psychological experiment.

"They just thought it was a convenient place for us to carry out the study," said Dr Rockloff.

He discovered that people who had pre-existing issues with gambling and who looked as if they had fun with the crocodile tour were the ones who took the greatest risks when gambling, those who appeared to be more nervous from the tour took fewer risks.

Additionally, he discovered that certain individuals belonging to the control group who had had no contact with the crocodiles would take greater risks if they had strong negative emotions at the time, in contrast to those who were feeling positive, these latter people took fewer risks.

Dr Rockloff has stated that the crocodile experiment was not highly controlled, but when combined with the results of the white noise experiment, the conclusion emerges that there is a three-way issue with problem gambling; previous gambling history, physiological arousal and emotional state.  

He argues that his findings indicate a need for problem gamblers to identify when they are in certain emotional states (especially negative ones) and to avoid gambling at such times as the likelihood of problems is a lot higher at then.

"Don't go to the casino when you're depressed. Don't go to the casino when you're feeling so lucky you're absolutely sure you're going to win." He says.