Abstract
The negative psychological effects of public stigma on disordered gamblers have been well documented. Public stigma deters treatment-seeking and other help-seeking behaviors, and negatively impacts individuals’ view of themselves. Different types of disordered gambling activities may attract different degrees of stigma. One increasingly popular form of gambling involves placing bets on the outcomes of competitive video games, also called eSports gambling. This activity shares characteristics with Internet gaming and gambling. The purpose of this study was to compare the degree of public stigma held towards traditional casino gamblers, eSports gamblers, and Internet gamers, as compared to an individual experiencing comparable levels of impairment and distress due to a financial crisis. Using an experimental between-groups vignette study design, we found that all three types of behavioral addictions were more heavily stigmatized than the control condition. The three behavioral addictions were seen as being highly controllable, engendered a significant amount of anger and blame, and resulted in higher levels of desired social distance. Traditional casino gamblers were seen as significantly more dangerous to be around and created a higher level of desired social distance than the Internet gamer. Differences between the Internet gamer and eSports better were less pronounced. These findings underscore the importance of reducing public stigma for gambling and other behavioral addictions, and provide information that can be used when developing interventions to impact stigma.
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Appendix
Appendix
Vignette 1: Casino Gambler
Michael is a 28-year-old white male with a gambling addiction. He started gambling regularly after he went to the casino for the first time a few years ago. Since then, he has steadily increased the amount of time and money that he spends gambling, to the point that he now gambles far more than most people. He likes to play slot machines and black jack at the casino. He spends so much time thinking about gambling that he has trouble getting other things done. He gambles whenever he is distressed. This makes him feel better and helps him to get his mind off other things in his life. Sometimes he lies to people about how much he gambles, including his family and girlfriend. Recently, he got fired from his job because he kept skipping work to gamble at the casino.
Vignette 2: Internet Gamer
Michael is a 28-year-old white male with a gaming addiction. He started gaming regularly after he played League of Legends for the first time a few years ago. Since then, he has steadily increased the amount time that he spends gaming, to the point that he now games far more than most people. He likes to play computer games like World of Warcraft and League of Legends. He spends so much time thinking about gaming that he has trouble getting other things done. He games whenever he is distressed. This makes him feel better and helps him to get his mind off other things in his life. Sometimes he lies to people about how much he games, including his family and girlfriend. Recently, he got fired from his job because he kept skipping work to stay home to game.
Vignette 3: eSports Gambler
Michael is a 28-year-old white male with a gambling addiction due to his gaming. He started gambling regularly after he bet on the outcome of one of his favorite video games that he plays for fun—League of Legends. Since then, he has been gambling on the outcomes of his video games more regularly, to the point where he now gambles far more than most people do. He likes to gamble on games like World of Warcraft and League of Legends. He spends so much time thinking about gambling on video games that he has trouble getting other things done. He gambles whenever he is distressed. This makes him feel better and helps him to get his mind off other things in his life. Sometimes he lies to people about how much he gambles, including his family and girlfriend. Recently, he got fired from his job because he kept skipping work to stay home to gamble on video games.
Vignette: Financial Crisis
Michael is a 28-year-old white male with a financial problem. The company that he worked for was struggling and he was in the first group they laid off. He had only recently left his previous job because he thought that he could make more money with the new company. He had just taken out a large loan for a new house before he was laid off. His loan payments are considerable and he doesn’t know how he will be able to get out of debt. He is very distressed. He knows of some nearby job openings, but none that pay as much as he would like. Michael spends a lot of time worrying about his financial problems, what he will do until he can find a new job, and wondering if and when he’ll ever be able to buy a house.
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Peter, S.C., Li, Q., Pfund, R.A. et al. Public Stigma Across Addictive Behaviors: Casino Gambling, eSports Gambling, and Internet Gaming. J Gambl Stud 35, 247–259 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9775-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-9775-x