This study tested whether alcohol increases behaviors associated with video lottery terminal (VLT) play, particularly among probable pathological gamblers. Forty-four regular VLT players were designated either probable pathological gamblers or non-pathological gamblers on the basis of scores on the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS); [Lesieur & Blume (1997). American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1184-1188] Gamblers from each SOGS category were randomly assigned to either a moderately intoxicating alcohol dose or a control beverage condition (n = 11 per cell in the 2 x 2 between-subjects design). Following beverage consumption and absorption, participants played a video poker VLT game for up to 30 minutes. Four behaviors were measured: "power-bets" (doubling bet after viewing only two cards of the five-card poker hand); total money spent; mean bet magnitude; and number of minutes played. Alcohol increased time spent playing and rate of power-bets, particular among the probable pathological gamblers. Post hoc analyses revealed that alcohol also influenced the proportion of losing hands played--increasing them among the probable pathological gamblers while decreasing them among the non-pathological gamblers. Clinical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.

This study explored the factor structure of the Gambling Motives Questionnaire (GMQ) with a large stratified sample of 839 moderate gamblers (49% female; median age category = 45–54 years) and examined the effect of including a monetary motive item on GMQ factor structure. Participants responded to a telephone survey in which they were asked how often they gamble for each of 16 reasons, including the 15 GMQ motives and an additional motive: “to win money”. Exploratory principal components analysis of the 15 GMQ items revealed three factors, together accounting for 49.04% of the total variance in GMQ scores. The factors tapped enhancement, coping and social motives, although only the coping subscale displayed strong internal consistency. A second exploratory principal components analysis of the 15 GMQ items and the monetary motive item continued to reveal three factors tapping enhancement, coping and social motives. The addition of the monetary motive item strengthened the independence of the components and dramatically improved the internal consistency of the enhancement factor. The results suggest that the psychometric properties of the GMQ, when used with a population of moderate gamblers, may be considerably strengthened with only minor modifications.

People frequently combine alcohol use and gambling. However, our understanding of the effects of alcohol on gambling behavior is limited, both in terms of what the effects are and how they occur. The effects of a moderately intoxicating dose of alcohol (i.e., a blood alcohol concentration of .06 g%) on the video lottery terminal (VLT) gambling behaviors and cognitions of community-recruited nonpathological (n = 30) and probable pathological gamblers (n = 30) were compared. Alcohol increased the rate of double up betting (i.e., choosing to play a bonus game, after a winning video poker hand, which involves trying to pick a higher ranked card than the dealer's card from among 5 face down cards) of probable pathological gamblers, but did not influence their irrational beliefs about VLT play. Alcohol maintained the irrational beliefs about VLT play of nonpathological gamblers, but did not influence their gambling behaviors. Results are consistent with a growing body of research finding that gambling cognitions have an equivocal role in explaining actual gambling behaviors. Potential mechanisms for the observed effects are discussed. Applied implications discussed include: educating regular VLT players about the effects of alcohol on irrational gambling cognitions; reconsidering policies and practices that make alcohol available where machine gambling takes place; and targeting even moderate alcohol use in the treatment of gambling problems.

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