The Influence of Online Gambling Environments on Self-Control
Author(s): Jennifer Christie Siemens and Steven W. Kopp
Source: Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 30, No. 2 (FALL 2011), pp. 279-293
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of American Marketing Association
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23209281
Accessed: 24-03-2020 17:07 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/23209281?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
American Marketing Association, Sage Publications, Inc. are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
The Influence of Online Gambling Environments on
Self-Control
Jennifer Christie Siemens and Steven W. Kopp
Online gambling has become a fast growing but controversial industry. This article summarizes two
studies that investigate characteristics of Internet gambling environments that lead to problems with
self-control. In-depth interviews with both online and casino gamblers reveal that their experiences are
categorized differently in an online context, causing some informants to undertake less monitoring of
spending. They also use their physical environment to impose boundaries. Next, an experiment
investigates two characteristics of online gambling environments: the use of intangible currency and
rapid sequential choice. Both traits negatively affect people's ability to maintain an accurate, in-the
moment account balance across a sequence of gambles. These studies suggest several policy and
consumer welfare implications.
Keywords: gambling, online gambling, public policy
For more than 200 years, Americans have weighed the
entertainment value of gambling against the social ills
that seem to accompany the practice. The origin of the
Internet has thrust this debate into an online context (Quittner
1995). Conservative estimates suggest that online casinos
and bookmakers brought in proceeds of over $15 billion
worldwide in 2006, an amount expected to nearly double by
2012 (The Economist 2007). As much as 60% of these indus
try revenues come from U.S. participants (LaPlante 2007).
Internet gambling can be performed in almost all tradi
tional manners. The most popular types of betting are
online casinos and sports wagering, including nearly every
game otherwise available in physical casinos. There are
hundreds of online casinos and sportsbooks. However, the
ease of access, combined with the moral stigma placed on
gambling, have led to a myriad of international, federal, and
state regulations seeking to control availability and access
to these types of websites.
Previous studies and opinion have suggested that elec
tronic mediated gambling, in video game and online for
mats, may be more harmful or dangerous to players than
traditional casino gambling (King, Delfabbro, and Griffiths
2010; LaBrie et al. 2007; Smith and Campbell 2007). Con
cerns about the potential for consumer fraud (Miller 2006),
Jennifer Christie Siemens is Assistant Professor of Marketing,
Department of Marketing, College of Business and Behavioral Sci
ence, Clemson University (e-mail: jsiemen@clemson.edu). Steven W.
Kopp is Associate Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing
and Logistics, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of
Arkansas (e-mail: skopp@walton.uark.edu). The authors thank the
JPP&M reviewers for their helpful comments during revisions of this
article. They also thank Jeff B. Murray and Norma A. Mendoza for
their guidance during early stages of this research. Stacey Baker
served as associate editor for this article.
compulsive behavior (Bernhard 2007; H.R. 2046 2007),
and underage gambling (Griffiths and Wood 2000) point to
the need for government regulation. In a recent study of 30
online and casino gamblers, Cotte and Latour (2009) found
that consumption is less regulated in online environments;
they thus speculate that gamblers may be attracted to online
gambling because it represents a form of transgression.
They also find that online gambling is easier to access and
results in more time spent gambling, such that online gam
bling becomes integrated into everyday consumption, lead
ing to "more mindless consumption of gambling and resul
tant losses" (Cotte and Latour 2009, p. 756).
Still, relatively little research has investigated how men
tal processes underlying participation in casino gambling
may differ in a computer-mediated, virtual context. As the
Internet continues to grow and online spending increases, it
may be tempting simply to apply what has been learned in
offline contexts to computer-mediated environments. This
cross-contextual translation should be undertaken with
skepticism, however, because research suggests that com
puter-mediated environments possess more distinct quali
ties than those of traditional face-to-face consumption envi
ronments (Hoffman and Novak 1996; Joinson 1998;
Koyuncu and Bhattacharya 2004; Schlosser 2003). The
Internet exacerbates the effects of certain behaviors because
of its easy access and simple use (Branch 2002; Forman and
Block 2006; Yellowlees and Marks 2007). Even in a gam
bling context, it thus has been a constant challenge to policy
makers to ensure the sometimes contradictory goals of
online safety and freedom (Miller 2006).
This article summarizes the results of studies that exam
ine how unique characteristics of online gambling environ
ments influence individual spending decisions and gam
bling experiences. We begin with a brief discussion of
recent regulatory issues related to Internet gambling and
then provide a description of two studies that investigate the
©2011, American Marketing Association Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
ISSN: 0743-9156 (print), 1547-7207 (electronic) 279 Vol. 30 (2) Fall 2011, 279-293
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
280 Online Gambling Environments
characteristics of Internet gambling environments that may
lead to particular consumer vulnerabilities. Finally, we dis
cuss the results and implications for policy makers.
Recent Regulatory Issues and Efforts
Governmental control of gambling, however defined, has
deep roots (Eadington 2004; Regional Review 1991; Taylor
and Kopp 1991; U.S. Government Accounting Office
2002). In the United States, gambling is generally illegal
unless regulated by a state. Many states have succumbed to
the temptation to gather revenues from lotteries (Blalock,
Just and Simon 2007) and allow other types of gambling in
specific geographic areas, such as Native American reser
vations or "offshore" commercial casinos constructed on
lakes or rivers (Lauderdale and Thomas 2009). Because
gambling is legal in more than 50 countries and jurisdic
tions, containment and prosecution has remained difficult in
the United States. The Internet provides 24-hour, virtual
access to hundreds of gambling facilities, in which con
sumers spend billions of dollars each year. The National
Gambling Impact Study Commission thus predicts that
"online wagering promises to revolutionize the way Ameri
cans gamble" (James 1999, p. 5-1).
Until very recently, federal regulation of gambling
tended toward efforts to control interstate commerce, allow
ing individual states to decide what forms of gambling
could take place within their borders. Initial regulation and
prosecution of Internet gambling cases employed laws
based on nineteenth- or twentieth-century technologies.
Both the Interstate Wire Act (1961) and the Foreign Travel
or Transportation and Aid of Racketeering Enterprise Act
(18 U.S.C. § 1952) have been applied in Internet gambling
cases (Watson et al. 2004). Significant limitations of these
existing laws, in either interpretation or application, have
led to Internet-specific legislation intended to curb online
gambling, the first introduced in 1997 (S. 474; H.R. 2380).
These and other early efforts were unsuccessful until the
passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement
Act of 2006 (UIGEA; 31 U.S.C. §§ 5361-5367), which
went into effect June 1, 2010. The UIGEA does not prohibit
online gambling per se but makes it illegal for U.S.-based
financial transaction providers and electronic payment sys
tems to accept, distribute, or otherwise honor Internet gam
bling-related transactions. Banks and other financial insti
tutions are required to take initiatives to identify, code, and
block the transfer of credit card payments earned by Inter
net gambling websites. The UIGEA had a negative impact
on Internet gambling commerce in the United States, as
many publicly owned, European-based online gambling
sites stopped accepting bets from U.S. players.
Privately held websites located in the Caribbean and other
areas remain out of the reach of U.S. law enforcement though
and continue to take bets from U.S. gamblers (The Economist
2009; Sullivan 2007). Even within the United States,
enforcement of the law is largely ineffective (Wijnholds and
Little 2007), contains many loopholes (Wajda 2007), and
violates international trade agreements (Peters 2010). Recent
legislation would sanction the licensing, regulation, and taxa
tion of domestic and offshore Internet gambling businesses
and essentially repeal UIGEA (Di Gregory 2010; H.R. 2267).
This legislation also proposes unspecified mechanisms to
protect consumers from overspending.
While U.S. Congressional hearings have been dealing
with the balance between freedom and regulation (Duke
2007; Hanaway 2007), individual states have begun to con
sider legalizing and taxing online gambling. New Jersey,
California, Florida, and Connecticut are among the states
with active bills. Kentucky recently passed a bill in its state
legislature that would allow taxing of online horse betting
(Cypra 2010). Other states have tested prohibitions of
online gambling in courts (Rousso v. State of Washington
2010). This ambiguity and less-than-systematic policy have
kept the online gambling industry alive for U.S. customers.
The Internet has been referred to as "a parallel universe
that mirrors the physical world in some ways but exhibits
entirely unique properties in others" (Schwartz 1997, p. 1).
We explore the characteristics of computer-mediated gam
bling environments and how they differ from traditional
face-to-face contexts and discuss the results in application
to current public policy issues. Are consumers any more
likely to lose track of their money when Internet gambling?
How does online gambling differ from casino gambling,
and do these differences affect self-control? Literature on
self-regulation and self-control suggests specific reasons
self-control fails and how the context may affect this fail
ure. Furthermore, mental accounting research helps explain
the psychological processes underlying spending and
choice, which have important implications for online gam
bling but also may be extended more generally to other
online consumer behaviors.
Theoretical Framework
Self-Regulation and Self-Control
Baumeister (1994) defines self-control as the self's capacity
to alter its own states and responses. There are three poten
tial causes of self-control failure (Baumeister 1994;
Baumeister and Mick 2002). First, to maintain self-control,
a person must have standards, goals, or guidelines to help
specify the appropriate behavior.
Second, people should engage in frequent monitoring to
keep track of their own behavior. Even if a person sets a
guideline, he or she must diligently evaluate behaviors
against the goal. Baumeister (1994) argues that several
issues might cause a monitoring lapse, all involving a loss
of self-awareness. For example, monitoring tends to break
down when people experience deindividuation, a phenome
non that arises when they are focused on others rather than
themselves (e.g., in a group setting). A loss of self
awareness also can occur simply through a loss of control
of attention, perhaps as a result of an extreme focus on the
immediate task or distractions in the external environment.
To exacerbate this effect, after an initial breakdown of
monitoring, people often simply stop monitoring altogether.
Third, both goals and monitoring presuppose a capacity
to change or alter the self. However, because the capacity to
change can be depleted by the mere act of self-control (i.e.,
ego depletion), a person's ability to regulate his or her
behavior decreases. Reasons for ego depletion are many.
Vohs and Heatherton (2000) examine whether tasks that
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
require self-control (e.g., refusing a tempting snack) affect
the ability to self-regulate later and find that situational con
ditions, such as availability and temptation, create greater
difficulty with self-control and therefore greater resource
depletion. Other research has suggested that repeated,
active choice making depletes self-control strength
(Bruyneel et al. 2006). Impression management and self
regulatory resources also have been linked. Vohs, Baumeis
ter, and Ciarocco (2005) find that when people try to man
age their self-presentations, they exhibit less self-control. In
particular, they suggest that unfamiliar situations, such as
being in the presence of strangers, require greater self
presentation and, thus, more self-regulation.
When gambling, monitoring spending or battling with
self-control may deplete the resources needed for optimal
decision making. The need for impression management
(e.g., suppressing emotions during a poker game) could fur
ther deplete the ego. Vohs, Baumeister, and Ciarocco
(2005) reveal that it is most challenging for people to pre
sent themselves as likable and competent to a skeptical
audience. For these reasons, gambling is a substantive
domain ripe for further exploration of self-control issues.
Mental Accounting and Self-Control
In the context of gambling, the outcome of self-control is
monetary. That is, people in most cases complete two simul
taneous tasks: playing the game with some level of ability
and trying to keep track of their spending (wins or losses).
Research in the area of mental accounting complements self
control literature, because monitoring and goal-setting are
both necessary for self-regulation. Thaler (1985) proposes
that people psychologically categorize their money into dif
ferent accounts, depending on the mental category evoked
when they face a decision among alternatives. This category
then determines the reference point for evaluating spending
decisions. Henderson and Peterson (1992) argue that people
formulate mental accounts in a particular context, similar to
a script. That is, expectations of the advantages or disadvan
tages of an option differ across contexts as a consequence of
variation in the expected script. The context of a mental
accounting task may lead to differences across environments
in the way people monitor their spending or establish spend
ing guidelines.
Within a gambling consumption context, mistakes in
decision making become particularly important. Baumeister
(1994) states that casinos seem set up entirely to hinder
self-monitoring. Differences in context could affect not just
monitoring but also goal-setting and the capacity to change.
For example, a casino trip may be categorized differently
than sitting at home gambling online, which would cause
more or less malleable spending guidelines in either envi
ronment. Similarly, one environment could lead to a greater
need for impression management, increasing the likelihood
of resource depletion and breakdowns in self-control.
To explore some differences between face-to-face and
computer-mediated gambling, we employ a qualitative
research approach in Study 1. We conducted phenomeno
logical interviews with a sample of gamblers with experi
ence in online and casino contexts. The interviews provide
a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of online
gamblers and an opportunity for a comparison with
non-computer-mediated gambling. In particular, they focus
on the impact of Internet gambling on mental accounting,
self-control, and spending choices.
Study 1 : Interviews
Method
Judgment Sample
The goal of phenomenological interviewing is to attain a
first-person description of a specified domain of experience
(Pollio, Henley, and Thompson 1997). The selection of the
interview sample determines the domain of experience for
contextualizing the conceptual framework. A small sample
(usually three-ten people) allows for an emphasis on
detailed descriptions and depth of understanding.
The interview volunteers were selected from both a mid
sized college town and a large metropolitan area in the U.S.
Midwest. Informants were solicited through local newspa
per ads and flyers posted around campus, in local restau
rants, and in bars. Those who responded to the advertise
ments were screened by telephone or e-mail to obtain their
age, experiences with casino and online gambling, gam
bling frequency, and preferred casino games. Criteria for
selection included legal gambling age and sufficient gam
bling experience (i.e., had gambled multiple times at a
casino or on the Internet or both). The sample included
respondents with a range of online and casino gambling
experience. Initial phone interviews identified a group of
fourteen potential informants, seven of whom were chosen
according to the judgment criterion. The seven informants
completed a survey that consisted of assessments of their
demographic information and gambling experience and the
South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS; Lesieur and Blume
1987). The SOGS measures pathological tendencies in
gamblers; none of the informants were problem gamblers.
They received a small monetary payment for participating
in the interview, but this compensation was not used as an
incentive during the recruiting process.
The resulting sample consisted of five men and two
women, 22 to 39 years of age (see Table 1). Four participants
were Caucasian, one was of Indian descent, one was Hispanic,
and one was Pakistani. Their experience with gambling
ranged from two to nine years and varied across blackjack,
slots, poker, and craps. One informant had experience only
with casino gambling, whereas the others had varying degrees
of experience with both casino and online gambling.
Interview Procedure
Before being interviewed, the selected informants were
assured that that their anonymity would be maintained
throughout the research process and that the purpose of the
interview was to gain an understanding of gambling experi
ences. Each interview began with general background
information and then gradually shifted to the topic of gam
bling. Throughout the interview, informants were encour
aged to describe their personal experiences. Interviews
were conducted in a private conference room and lasted
from 45 minutes to two hours. The audio-recorded inter
views were professionally transcribed verbatim, resulting in
a 240-page, double-spaced text.
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
282 Online Gambling Environments
Table 1. Informant Profiles
Name Age Gender Online Experience3 Casino Experience3
Omar 23 Male Blackjack Blackjack, slots, video poker
Philip 27 Male Blackjack Blackjack, slots, video poker
Nick 32 Male Poker, craps, blackjack Poker, craps, blackjack, slots, video poker
Miranda 23 Female None Slots, blackjack
Carlos 22 Male Poker Poker, blackjack
Kendra 39 Female Blackjack Blackjack, poker, video poker, slots, craps
Barry 33 Male Poker, blackjack Blackjack, roulette, craps, slots
"Self-reported.
Analysis
The text analysis followed the procedures outlined by
Thompson and Haytko (1997) and Murray (2002). First, a
researcher read each informant's text and interpreted it as a
single case. Informants indicated why and when they
began gambling, how they experienced gambling in both
computer-mediated and face-to-face contexts, and how they
managed their spending when gambling.
Second, we sought overarching themes across the com
bined set of seven interviews. Two higher order themes
emerged from the experiences expressed by the informants.
These themes served to help answer the research questions
and contribute to an understanding of mental accounting in
computer-mediated environments.
Theme 1: Social Pressure and Self-Monitoring;
Online Casinos as Safe Havens
Impression management is common in face-to-face con
texts because people want to present a particular self-image
(Goffman 1959). They often suffer an inconsistency
between what they ought to be and what they actually are,
and the gap between identities is a stigma (Goffman 1963).
The use of impression management creates tension for the
stigmatized person. Goffman (1959) compares managing
impressions to being an actor on a stage, where the actor
must convincingly perform his or her role before an audi
ence. The informants' narratives in this study provided evi
dence of such impression management. Their stage was
their gambling environment, and their audience was their
fellow gamblers. Most of the informants indicated that their
role as a player was an important part of their gambling
identity. During their gambling experiences, each informant
partook in a process of shaping and living his or her par
ticular identity. Carlos, a 22-year-old college student,
openly stated, "you gotta be an actor [at the poker table],"
referring to his attempt to project a certain personality when
gambling.
Because of the need for impression management in a
face-to-face casino context, several informants used Inter
net gambling as "practice." Omar, a 23-year-old man from
Karachi, Pakistan, is pursuing a career in hospitality man
agement. His family immigrated to the United States, where
they have resided for 17 years. When Omar was 18 years of
age, he was exposed to online gambling while watching his
friends play cards at a free website. He started to play on
the website with credits, or as he called it, "fake money,
basically Monopoly money." Omar viewed his experience
with these free gambling websites as educational; he used
the experiences as a learning tool, which started his pro
gression to online gambling for money and then casino
gambling:
It's free, they don't charge. It's for fun; you don't win anything.
And I used that as how to understand the games, how to make
the moves. Then I went to the online gambling. And from
online gambling I went to the actual casino.... I started playing
online one when I was 18 or 19.... That experience, it was a
learning tool at first.
These "learning experiences" assisted Omar's progression
into the world of casino gambling, giving him the confi
dence that he could gamble in the presence of others with
out appearing as an amateur. On his first trip to a casino,
Omar decided to play slots because they seemed easy and
did not require much money. He took only $5, and to his
surprise, he won $600. While his first trips to the casino
were made alone, he eventually began going with a group
of friends.
Although Omar claimed he did not "gamble big," he
would like to play with larger amounts of money in the
future. Omar frequently used the term "big" to describe
someone's status as an experienced gambler, such as an
uncle who "is a gambler, but not that big." He recalled play
ing blackjack with a table of skilled gamblers and described
the experience as "big-time gamblers putting out big-time
money —not just $5, but like $100 every round." This
account offers evidence of another progression in Omar's
gambling narrative: from tentatively spending small
amounts of money to confidently and eagerly wagering
larger amounts to being a "big-time" gambler. Omar's inner
struggle between being "big-time" and an amateur also sur
faced when he played blackjack in a face-to-face context.
At the blackjack table in a crowded casino, he perceived
that others were evaluating his gambling strategy:
You have this group of people standing around you and just
want to watch and see how it's going with you. And a lot of
times when that happens you kind of tend to hold back on the
moves that you would make because you don't want to look
stupid.
Other informants expressed a similar need for impression
management in casinos. Nick, a 32-year-old male graduate
student, has broad gambling experience, including various
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
games and contexts. Before returning to school for his
graduate degree, Nick traveled to casinos about 12 times per
year. He indicated that he enjoyed all forms of gambling but
also drew a clear distinction between games that he plays
against the casino (or Internet site) and those he plays
against other players. At the poker table, Nick believed he
must hold back his emotions, largely because he must
"bluff' his opponents rather than celebrate their winnings
(cf. playing craps, for which "everyone is on the same team
at the table"). Nick could not become excited about winning;
the very goal of the game was to hide this excitement:
To the savvy poker player, which I'm not—I mean I understand
the game but I don't understand reading people—you can tell
by the things people do, the way they act, the way they look on
a certain hand, if they start perspiring on a certain hand. I mean,
people watch that that really play all the time and they see that
every time what's-his-face over here has a good hand he jiggles
his leg or he starts to sweat because he's excited and it's an
emotion that he can't stop. And they just know. You can't make
yourself sweat when you don't have a good hand, because you
can't get yourself excited like that.
The inability to control these physiological responses is
what Nick disliked about playing poker in the casino and
the reason he prefers to play online. He believed that the
lack of visual cues (e.g., being able to see someone sweat)
leveled the playing field, giving him a fair shot at winning:
"It's a lot easier [online] than in the casinos, because people
can't see you and tell from your reactions."
Several respondents indicated that the pace of some
games in casinos increased in response to pressure to make
a move from other players at the table. Therefore, they
enjoyed gambling online rather than in a face-to-face con
text. In the online poker room, a player has a limited time to
place a bet, but because it is a virtual poker table, there are
fewer external pressures. Nick claimed that this setting
allowed more time to deliberate about his strategy, such that
he could take the allotted time if necessary:
[Online] there is a little time limit. It's kind of like a fuel gauge
running out. Whereas you could sit at a casino table playing
poker, and you might be able to pull off sitting there for 5 min
utes thinking about your hand, but everyone at the table would
really want to kill you.... They'd be yelling at you and complain
ing. Sure they would. "Rookie, get off the table!" Things like
that. The pit boss would probably come over and say, "You're
going to have to make it quicker. You're going to have to bet a
little bit faster. You're irritating people." They'll let you know.
Barry, a 33-year-old network administrator, has experi
enced the same "time pressure" in a face-to-face gambling
context:
In a casino if you sit there and you're stalling or playing slow
you're holding up the game. Then there's the pressure of people
that are playing with you at the table, obviously they don't want
to be held up.
Interviewer: And online?
You don't have that because you're the only one there. You're
sitting by yourself at your computer, you don't have other peo
ple around you.
In the casino context, the social pressure not to irritate other
players prevents players from taking the time they may
need to think about the game. Therefore, some gamblers
considered the pace of the game faster in the face-to-face
casino than online and regarded gambling online as a less
threatening environment.
Other informants also expressed self-consciousness when
gambling in a casino. Phillip, a 27-year-old man, currently
works as a buyer for a large retail corporation. He began
gambling in casinos at age 18 and on the Internet when he
was 20 years of age. His father owned a video poker parlor,
where customers would gamble for tickets that could be
traded in for merchandise and gift certificates. Although
Phillip has "tried just about everything," his most extensive
gambling experience has been with blackjack.
Phillip claimed he was nervous the first time he went to the
casino to play blackjack. Although he knew the rules of play,
he was afraid that he would be judged by others at the table:
The first time I went I had bought all these books on the rules of
blackjack and all that. It was kind of nerve wracking at the table
because I knew everybody else knew what they were doing and
they were kind of yelling at you if you did the wrong thing. But
I got better.
Interviewer: What made you nervous?
Everyone at the table here is so experienced, and when I did
something wrong they kind of made a look or gestures or some
thing.... If you hit when you're not supposed to, it kind of
messes up the flow of the table, they say. It messes up what
everyone else would get, the probability of it.
Barry also expressed nervousness when playing in a casino.
Of his first experience playing blackjack, he noted:
I was kind of nervous.... I didn't want to seem out of place or
like a rookie, so you try not to make a mistake. Try not to seem
nervous, or not to display it outwardly. You just want to fit in.
You kind of get, look around and observe and see how every
one else is acting, what they're doing. You basically follow
their lead, you know.
As evidenced in the informants' narratives, self-monitoring
or impression management is common when gambling.
They perceive less pressure to "maintain" their gambling
identities in an online gambling context, evidently as a
result of the computer mediation. This finding is consistent
with social presence and self-awareness theories (Duval and
Wicklund 1972; Short, Williams, and Christie 1976). Distin
guishing between objective and subjective self-awareness,
Duval and Wicklund (1972) suggest that environmental
stimuli can cause a person to focus attention on either him
or herself (objective self-awareness) or the environment
(subjective self-awareness). Objective self-awareness can
be induced by the mere presence of another person who
may be monitoring or evaluating the focal person. Subjec
tive self-awareness occurs in environments with a stimulus
strong enough to draw attention toward it and away from
the self or when a person is not concerned with the possi
bility of being monitored or evaluated. Although online
gambling often includes other people, the player must be
concerned with being monitored or evaluated by those other
people before he or she will experience objective self
awareness.
Phillip also commented throughout the inte
gambling online was similar to playing a vide
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
284 Onli ne Gambling Environments
It's just like playing video games. You lay down, it doesn't
seem like you're losing money because it's just like playing a
game, and you don't have the actual pieces to touch.
Interviewer: Tell me how that affects it.
You just don't think about it and you tend to bet more.
Philip's mention that "you lay down" to play when gam
bling online referred to his use of a laptop to gamble from
the couch while lying down, watching television or relax
ing. His ability to lie down physically while gambling at
home differed from sitting at a crowded blackjack table in a
casino. Being removed from the casino somehow distracted
Phillip from his gambling. He thus was less likely to experi
ence objective self-awareness when Internet gambling, less
ening his need for self-monitoring.
Vohs, Baumeister, and Ciarocco (2005) also suggest that
unfamiliar situations require greater self-presentation and,
thus, more self-regulation. Our informants' narratives sup
port this view. When they were uncertain about how to play
a new game or surrounded by an evaluative audience of
strangers, informants were more self-conscious about their
behavior. That is, they expended more energy trying to
"act" a certain way and thus enjoyed the game less. The
removal of this social pressure in an online context led our
informants to view online gambling as a safer alternative,
one that allowed them to take their time without worrying
about other players' opinions of them.
When the self is depleted by impression management,
people exhibit less self-control (Baumeister 1994; Baumeis
ter and Mick 2002; Vohs, Baumeister, and Ciarocco 2005).
Thus, contrary to conventional assumptions, resources may
be less depleted online than in a casino, which may lead to
improved control over spending and a better focus on deci
sions in the computer-mediated environment.
Theme 2: Going Beyond Mental Accounting and
the Use of Environmental Cues to Promote Self
Control
Baumeister and Mick (2002) specify that goals or guidelines
are necessary for self-control. The informants all discussed
ways in which they either used objects in their environment
to help them account for their money or rearranged their
environment to impose boundaries and improve self-control.
They also reported that in a gambling context, they some
times spent impulsively, lacked discipline, or lost track of
their money. In response, they recognized the need to go
beyond mental restrictions and redirect these tendencies.
Self-control failure would occur if they deviated from spend
ing guidelines. One way to monitor their behavior against an
imposed spending guideline was through a form of mental
accounting. We found though that people often went further
than mental accounting, using their physical surroundings or
environment to enforce their spending limits.
A 23-year-old woman with approximately two years of
experience with casino gambling, Miranda usually travels
to the casino with her fiancé and her extended family. To
control her losses and reduce temptation, Miranda imposed
temporal restraints on her gambling (e.g., leaving the casino
at a predetermined time). These time constraints would be
enforced by various family members. Even when her family
members were not in close proximity, Miranda remained
aware of their presence and their influence on her gambling
decisions. Her family helped control the lure that Miranda
felt from gambling, establishing limitations that make gam
bling acceptable and safe:
I'll find him [her father] and I'll say, "We're going home now.
Let's go!"
Interviewer: How do you know when you're going to quit
playing?
If my time is up, like my dad said be back in 3 to 4 hours and I
know that hey, I've got to go.
Interviewer: So even if you're winning you go at that time?
Yeah.
With respect to temporal restrictions, Miranda knew that
gambling was tempting for her and that she might not stick
to a time limit without her family's influence. For example,
she might not want to leave in the middle of a winning
streak or might want to stay to try to win her money back if
she was losing. The temporal restriction imposed by her
family prevented Miranda from staying longer than planned
and enabled her to impose boundaries on her family mem
bers' gambling as well.
Thaler (1985) suggests that people employ mental
accounting as a self-imposed mechanism to control spend
ing. In Miranda's case, the self-control mechanisms were
physical as well as mental:
I try not to take my credit cards or debit cards, because I know
I'll use it somehow. But if I do, then I'll leave it in the car just
in case for the drive or to eat on the way. But I avoid taking
them into the hall, into the casino.
Interviewer: Tell me more about that.
Well, I bring in my cash into the casino and try to avoid it from
using my debit, because it's so tempting because everywhere
you look is another ATM where you can use a credit card with
drawal. And if you are to do that, it's more tempting for people
and they could be sitting there all day. That way it's like you
have certain times and certain money so you know you have to
get out. And once you go to the car, just to get an ATM, of
course you will get up and leave. Because you're already in the
car; you might as well go home.
Miranda also established a way of physically keeping
track of her money and regulating her spending when play
ing blackjack at the casino: She placed her casino chips into
stacks and then evaluated the stacks to keep track of her
winnings or losses. She also kept cash in reserve in her
pocket, rather than redeeming it for chips all at once:
Okay, say I go in and I put this money down and I probably just
give him $100 straight. And he's giving me coins [chips] for it.
And I keep on betting, and every time I'm betting I can see my
stacks are going up or down. And like, say the $5 chips, I can
count that I only have 10 chips or something like that. Then I
know that I am losing. But I still have that $100 in my pocket.
So say I've lost my whole cashing in $100. I know how much
money I have and then also I can count my chips to see where I
am. If I am winning, then another stack will probably build up.
Interviewer: You don't give them all the $200?
No. I keep the $100 in my pocket.
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 285
Miranda's practice of leaving her credit card in the car
outside the casino and keeping half her spending money in
her pocket demonstrates her inner struggle to keep track of
and control her spending. Although she knew that she
should not spend money beyond her preset limit, she also
believed she would be tempted to do so if she had her
credit card with her while she gambled. If she intention
ally imposed a "waiting period" on her spending—the
time it takes to walk to the car—she would likely rethink
her decision to spend more money and instead go home.
Thus, she was not confident that she would be able to rea
son with herself to stop spending without this environ
mental control.
Nick's narrative further illustrates this theme. His game
of choice was craps because of the fast pace of the game.
You can walk in with $50 and end up, up so much so fast. But
you can go through it just as fast. That's the thing with craps.
It's so quick. What's quick about it, it's just, you roll, you get
your bets down. They give you the dice, you roll again. You get
your bets down ... then you just go again, and you just go
again. It just starts going so fast. And people really get irritated
at the table if it's taking a while—if you're taking a while with
your bets. You just take the dice and roll 'em.
Nick emphasized that the quick nature of the craps game
sometimes distracted him from counting his money. He
usually counted it only during a losing period when the
table's party-like atmosphere was in a lull:
It's difficult because you've got so much going out and so
much coming in sometimes. Usually what will happen is you
go on some big tear where somebody's rolling. And then when
that, you know, finally when that calm comes, someone rolls a
seven and it's moving on to the next person, the dealers have to
go through the process of taking all that money off the table,
stacking it up, putting it in the right thing. So you've got a
minute or two there to breathe, order your drinks, whatever
you've got to do.
When playing craps, Nick became very involved in the
action at the table. He had "too many things going" to think
about his balance or to figure out where he stood finan
cially. Instead, he waited for a lull in the game to distance
himself physically and evaluate his wins or losses. In this
way, Nick relied on his environment to impose a boundary
for his spending. Nick also reported that he often took only
a small amount of money to the casino but had additional
money that he would be willing to take out of his bank
account. Although he mentally labeled a certain amount of
money as available for gambling, he still imposed a physi
cal restriction on his spending by keeping the majority of
the money in his bank account.
Philip also imposed external environmental controls to
avoid temptations and guard against impulsiveness while
gambling. For example, he used a special credit card when
gambling online with a maximum credit limit of $100:
I got a credit card for $100 max, and they control the max. So I
put in my credit card number and just gambled that $100, and
when it was gone I just tried paying that off and tried it again.
Interviewer: So how do you determine how much credit?
I usually, I only do it for $100.1 don't want to go over that.
Interviewer: So you set that limit?
Um-hmm. All you can play is the credit that you have on your
credit card and you enter that. I just put $100, because that's
what I have my credit card.
Philip's purposeful use of a credit card with a low balance
prevented him from going over his preestablished budget.
Kendra is a 39-year-old married woman who works for a
nonprofit organization. She has extensive experience gam
bling both online and in casinos, often taking multiday
gambling trips with friends. Despite her experience, Kendra
used an elaborate system to keep her from overspending at
the casino. She reflected, "I would actually put [money] in
envelopes that said Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Friday and Saturday would have the biggest chunk, Thurs
day and Sunday wouldn't have as much." Even using her
envelope system, Kendra struggled to keep a running total
of what money she has won or lost: "I can have cash in my
wallet and chips at the bottom of my purse. I'll have a
pretty good idea of about what I've got, but I don't know
for sure until I get back to the [hotel] room."
Late in his interview, Phillip commented that he did not
feel that he had as much control over his gambling in an
online context because he did not have chips or coins to
touch. He indicated his habit of betting the maximum
amount allowed when playing with credits, but playing with
real coins "slows him down" and made his money last
longer. Phillip thus perceived the presence of the chips (or
coins) as a built-in control on his gambling:
In Kansas City or Vegas they all use chips to carry around in
buckets. I like it better because you have to handle it and I don't
usually bet as much. It takes more time.
Interviewer: You like which one better?
I like the chips. Because credits, I usually just max the credits.
It's a lot easier to bet quicker and lose quicker.
Interviewer: OK. Versus the other, you do what?
I just put in one at a time, play for fun.
His comment that the chips "take more time" indicates a
built-in environmental control, associated with the need to
perform the physical task of putting chips into the machine.
When betting with credits instead of coins or chips, Phillip
automatically bet the maximum amount. To bet the maxi
mum amount using coins or chips, he would need to put
three separate coins into the machine, a task that forced him
to bet more slowly and not to lose as quickly. In the casino
environment, Phillip recognized that touching the chips and
being forced to put them into the machine one at a time
allowed him to slow down his betting. In this way, he relied
on his physical environment to help impose a restriction on
his spending.
Phillip perceived his money as being deducted from his
account immediately. Although it was a credit, he thought
of the $100 balance on his card as "his money," as if he had
a bank account with $100 in it. The casino was taking "his
money" from his account and holding it while he gambled.
He explained that "if you lose they keep it," such that he
perceived that the casino took possession of his money
before his actual loss. In reality, the credit card company
gave money to the casino for Phillip to use to play. Phillip
did not actually "pay" for his gambling until his credit card
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
286 Online Gambling Environments
bill came in the mail. Nevertheless, he perceived that he
paid for his gambling at the time he played.
Depending on the outcome, the online casino would
"give part of [the money] back" if Phillip won, a shifting of
his mental accounts. Technically, Phillip only would give
money to the casino if he placed a bet. For example, he
might log on to the casino website with $100 approved
credit and place a $5 bet. He has lost this money only if he
loses his bet. In his perception though, Phillip has given the
casino $100, and if he wins the $5 bet, he will be "given
back" some of the money.
Not only did the informants use their external environ
ment to help impose boundaries on their spending, but they
also employed objects to help them keep track of their wins
and losses. When visiting the casino, Miranda put half her
gambling money in her pocket while playing. As she
played, she also kept her chips stacked in such a way that
she could tell without counting how much money she had
left. If she had no stacks left on the table, she "isn't really
out of money," because she still had the original reserve in
her pocket. Similarly, when playing casino poker, Carlos
would take his money and "[push] it aside into separate
stacks" to keep track of his winnings, but he also believed
that other players perceive this chip stacking as a weakness.
Thus, Carlos faced a conflict between the two themes we
have identified in this study. On the one hand, Carlos
needed to go beyond mental accounting and use his envi
ronment to keep track of his spending; on the other hand, he
needed to manage other players' perceptions of him and act
out his identity as an experienced poker player.
Similarly, Philip used a stack of chips to help him deter
mine when to reduce his bets at blackjack. He devised a
way to use physical objects (chips) to help him strategize
about the game:
When the face cards come out, I count them by five. After five
face cards come out, I put a chip over to the side so I know he's
already used up five [face cards]. If four aces come out, I put
another chip over to the side to keep track of aces. I usually
wait until there's about fifteen or twenty face cards and maybe
eight or sixteen aces ... then I start betting less.
Omar also used objects to track his money in the casino.
Similar to Miranda's strategy, he would cash in only part of
his money and keep the rest in reserve. Omar started with
$100 worth of chips, placed in a stack in front of him. If at
any time throughout the game he won more than his origi
nal $100, he would start a new stack of chips and place the
"original" $100 in chips in his pocket. He preferred to "play
with his winnings," keeping his initial money separated
physically from the money that he won. This preference is a
common anomaly from an economic perspective, because
all money rationally should be treated equally and be
equally expendable.
Nick employed a similar form of physical accounting for
his money. He commented that often he became "so
absorbed in the game that it's hard to keep up." To limit the
amount that he spent, Nick would put a few extra chips in
his pocket as a reserve. He stated, "It's a nice surprise when
you wake up in the morning and you've got a few hundred
bucks in your pocket." This description is further evidence
that in the excitement of the moment, Nick realized his
need to control objects in his environment physically (i.e.,
the chips) so that he would have money left for the next
day. Nick also claimed he could tell how much he was win
ning or losing by looking at his chips and that he checked
his stacks of chips "every so often" to determine his finan
cial standing.
This second theme can contextualize and contribute to
self-control and mental accounting theories. Literature on
self-control failure suggests that monitoring spending is
critical for self-control (Baumeister 1994; Baumeister and
Mick 2002). According to mental accounting theory, people
have problems with restraint, which creates the need for
monitoring. Therefore, they develop internally enforced
guidelines to control their spending behavior (Thaler 1985,
1990; Thaler and Shefrin 1981).
The informants' gambling experiences revealed that they
intend to categorize their money but lack confidence in
their ability to monitor their spending mentally. This is not
to say that the informants do not engage in some form of
monitoring, but they feel compelled to use their environ
ment and physical surroundings as well to augment their
mental accounts. All the informants provided examples of
behaviors that extended beyond mental accounting and pro
vided more tangible ways of establishing boundaries.
In computer-mediated gambling contexts, the physical
means of accounting were not always present. For example,
there are no chips to stack to keep track of winnings and no
cash to put in one's pocket to keep from spending. Some
online environments also lack the built-in temporal delays
of face-to-face gambling contexts. For example, Miranda
knew that if she spent her allotted money at the casino, she
must return to her car to get more money, which created a
"waiting period" to temper her spending. Philip played with
credits in an online environment, which led to faster play
than feeding coins into a machine. In summary, computer
mediated environments remove physical and psychological
means of keeping track of spending, leading to reduced
self-control and mental accounting inaccuracies.
Although not a universal theme, many informants
expressed a sense of mindlessness associated only with
online gambling. According to Kendra, online poker is "just
a zone out kind of thing ... you don't even realize, you just
keep hitting the button, and I'm kind of in a trance with it,
not paying attention. At the casino I am very alert." Online
gambling websites may facilitate this mindlessness by
allowing players to select automatic settings their default
setting, enabling them to gamble without even thinking
about the cards in their hand. When playing online poker,
Carlos noted that "you can actually play in certain ways you
don't really have to think about it. You just kind of click,
fold, fold, and there's little boxes you can check to say that
if someone bets so much then you're just automatically
going to fold your hand." Carlos reduced his risk of big
losses when gambling online by playing four different
"windows" in a card game. That is, instead of one game in
which he would bet $20 per hand, he opened four separate
windows with games of $5 per hand to diversify his risk.
Barry also noted that one gambling website "keeps a run
ning total" of his wins and losses, which lessened the need
for his full attention to wins and losses. In contrast, the
informants expressed hyperawareness in the casino envi
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 287
ronment, such that they constantly self-monitored, manipu
lated their environment, and considered those around them.
This "performance" became a strategic balancing act
involving both cognitive and emotional effort, which was
much more involving than the mindlessness of the online
gambling environment.
Study 1 thus has provided evidence that people are
affected by the context in which they gamble. In a face-to
face context, a heightened need for impression management
may impair their ability to allocate the cognitive resources
necessary for self-regulation. Online gambling appeared
"safer" for those learning a new game or playing with
strangers, so gamblers used it as a learning tool to prepare
for riskier casino gambling. Gamblers often employed their
physical environment to help impose spending controls, and
environmental cues affected their perceptions of the experi
ence. Some informants believed that the online context led
to more rapid, sequential choices and consequently more
difficulty keeping track of spending, so they often built in
extra time to evaluate their account balances.
Through the use of a controlled experiment, in Study 2
we further investigate two factors that may affect people's
ability to exert self-control when gambling. First, the use of
intangible currency is unavoidable in computer-mediated
gambling and may make monitoring of spending more dif
ficult. Second, because online gambling enables click-speed
decisions, we also consider the pace of betting or speed of
decision making.
Characteristics of Online Environments
All computer-mediated transactions require intangible cur
rency, such as credit or debit cards. Specifically, Internet
gambling contexts demand that players pay with credits
instead of tangible coins, chips, or cash. Typically a player
sets up an account on the website, with credits deducted or
added to the account as he or she wins or loses.
Offline, credit card use enhances spending (Borgen 1976;
Huck 1976). Hirschman (1979) finds that people make
larger total dollar purchases when they use a credit card
than when they use cash. In addition, the use of credit cards
during transactions decreases the perceived cost of pur
chases (White 1980). Feinberg (1986) shows that though
the presence of credit card stimuli do not affect consumers'
self-reported motivation to spend, they enhance the magni
tude of spending and reduce decision time. Feinberg also
suggests that as people spend with credit cards, they
become conditioned and associate credit card stimuli with
spending. Prelec and Simester (2001) also find that willing
ness to pay is significantly greater for people who expect to
pay with a credit card rather than with cash. These findings,
along with the results in Study 1, suggest that the use of
intangible currency in a computer-mediated gambling con
text alters the way gamblers make spending decisions.
The existence of rapid, sequential choice is another com
mon characteristic of computer-mediated environments. As
suggested by the interviews in Study 1, online gambling
contexts do not include naturally built-in wait times, as tra
ditional casinos do (e.g., waiting for cards to be shuffled,
coins to register in a slot machine). Koyuncu and Bhat
tacharya (2004) reveal that the speed of online transactions
significantly contributes to consumers' decision to shop
online. Although the quickness of online transactions may
be convenient in a shopping context, it may have a potential
negative effect for gambling.
Research that has addressed mental accounting generally
investigates the choice between two static options, whereas
few studies consider situations in which rapid, multiple
choices occur in sequence. Redelmeier and Tversky (1992)
find that people tend to segregate multiple independent
choices, viewing each as a separate event, and Antonides
(1994) shows that a model of segregated evaluation of pay
offs better explains choices than a model of integrated
evaluation in a sequential prisoner's dilemma game. How
ever, neither study examines in-the-moment spending.
Wedell and Bockenholt (1994) investigate mental
accounting in a study in which they asked participants to
accept either a 50-50 gamble once or a 1-in-100 chance in
repetitive turns. In the single gamble scenario, participants
justified their decision using economic probabilities, but
they were more likely to use integration strategies for the
repeated gambles scenario. With a repeated gambling
opportunity, participants viewed the overall economic
change in totality, rather than as 100 instances of a 50-50
chance. These findings suggest their reliance on previous
outcomes in a decision sequence, similar to the findings
from the interviews in Study 1. However, Wedell and
Bockenholt's study also relied on the use of a hypothetical
scenario rather than actual, real-time decision making,
which may not provide an accurate representation of how
people employ mental accounting in realistic situations. In
Study 2, we conducted an experimental study to examine
rapid, sequential decision making in a computer-mediated
gambling context and thus determine the underlying
process of mental accounting and self-control.
Study 2: Experiment
To investigate some of the findings from Study 1, in Study 2
we employed a controlled experiment using a computer
mediated gambling task. Study 1 suggested two elements of
online gambling that may affect the accuracy with which a
gambler maintains in-the-moment mental account balances.
First, the pace of decision making depends on temporal delays
between intervals in a series of gambles. The longer a person
can think between choices, the more accurately he or she
should be at assessing changing balances. Whereas online
gambling enables click-speed decisions, thus reducing the
time gamblers think about and account for their spending,
social pressures to "hurry up and bet" in a casino context may
result in faster decisions too. Second, the vividness of the gain
or loss can be manipulated by altering the currency tangibility.
Most informants in Study 1 used physical cues (coins, chips)
to keep track of their spending. Because more concrete and
imaginable information is easier to retain in memory, the use
of physical money (tangible currency) should help people
keep better track of their gains and losses than the use of
intangible currency. This prediction depends somewhat on the
degree of effort the person expends trying to track his or her
spending, and the degree of cognitive effort expended could
account for some variance in accuracy. In line with this dis
cussion, we propose the following hypotheses:
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
288 Online Gambling Environments
Hj: Gamblers given a long delay between choices (a) are more
accurate at maintaining their in-the-moment account bal
ance and (b) give more accurate assessments of their over
all ending balance than gamblers given a short delay.
H2: Gamblers using intangible currency (a) are less accurate at
maintaining their in-the-moment account balance and
(b) give less accurate assessments of their overall ending
balance than gamblers using tangible currency.
Method
Participants and Design Overview
The participants were 150 male and female undergraduate
students, assigned randomly to each cell in a 2 (time
between decisions) x 2 (type of currency) design. The con
ditions for time between decisions corresponded to the
amount of time that participants had between intervals in a
series of computerized sequential gambles (short vs. long
delay). The conditions for the type of currency varied
according to whether they had tangible or intangible cur
rency to bet with during the game.
Experimental Procedure
The experiment was conducted in a laboratory setting, and
all data were collected using MediaLab Version 2002.2.10
software. Participants were informed before the experiment
that they would receive $2 as compensation for participat
ing in a study involving a series of computerized choices.
Participants entered the computer lab in groups of ten and
were seated at individual computer terminals divided by
partitions. They then received either a voucher for $2 or an
envelope containing $2 in dimes as compensation for par
ticipating in the experiment. Participants were told that to
make the task more interesting, they would have the oppor
tunity to increase or decrease their $2 by betting on the out
come of their choices. To avoid subject suspicion or
hypothesis guessing, the participants in the intangible/
tangible currency conditions were block randomized and
run in separate sessions.
A controlled computer program, similar to a roulette
game, was developed specifically for this study. For a
sequence of 20 choice intervals, participants selected a
color (red or black) and number (1-5) combination, chose
the amount to bet ($.00, $.10, $.20, or $.30), and activated a
button on the computer screen to trigger the computer to
generate a color/number combination. Several times
throughout the choice sequence, participants were prompted
to estimate their current balance, and a control computer
recorded each person's estimated and actual balances
throughout the computerized sequence. To maintain the
consistency of the experience across all participants, all
computers were programmed to "win" and "lose" the same
number of times. For example, on intervals programmed to
win, the computer automatically generated the same
color/number combination chosen by the subject. Partici
pants were unaware that the sequence of outcomes was con
trolled by the experimenter. All participants won both their
first and last gamble, to control for primacy and recency
effects.
Participants in the intangible currency condition kept
track of their account balance mentally throughout the
game. Those in the tangible currency condition had two
cups at their computer terminal, one labeled "your money"
and one labeled "bank." They deposited their $2 in dimes
into the "your money" cup and then physically added or
removed coins from this cup, depending on the outcome of
each choice interval. They were instructed not to look in
their cup or count the coins when estimating their balance,
which ensured that the physical task of transferring the
dimes was the only difference between the two conditions.
Any differences in accuracy thus could not be attributed to
the participants being able to count their dimes at any given
time. Two experimenters carefully monitored compliance
with these instructions during the experiment. To ensure no
differences in task effort across the tangible and intangible
currency conditions, a pretest was conducted in which sub
jects in the intangible currency condition performed a simi
lar physical task to those in the tangible currency condition
(i.e., transferring jelly beans rather than dimes). If the added
task of transferring dimes in the tangible currency condition
created an unfair advantage for those participants in the
intangible currency condition, it also would emerge when
the task involved transferring jelly beans. However, the
pretest results indicated that the task effort was equal across
conditions, regardless of the presence or absence of the
physical task {p = .34).
Before beginning the experiment, participants in all con
ditions received written instructions on their computer
screen. Simultaneously, the instructions were projected on a
video screen and read aloud by the experimenter. Those in
the tangible currency condition were shown how to move
their wins and losses from the "bank" to the "your money"
cup. Participants also were informed that their beginning
balance for the game was $2 and that they could assign a
bet for each outcome combination, corresponding to their
confidence that their guessed outcome would be correct.
The experimenter then projected a demonstration of the
computerized choice sequence on the video screen, includ
ing five practice intervals, before the participants began
their gambling sequence.
After completing 20 gambles, all participants electroni
cally responded to a survey with the dependent measures.
Next, each person was ushered individually into a separate
room to settle his or her balance and receive a printout of
his or her ending balance, as recorded by the control com
puter. People in the tangible currency condition counted the
number of dimes in their money container, and any errors in
accounting were noted. They were then allowed to take any
remaining money and were dismissed. Participants in the
intangible currency condition traded in their voucher for an
envelope containing $2 in dimes. They then paid the exper
imenter for any losses that they incurred during the task and
were dismissed with any remaining money.
Dependent Measures
Each person's account balance was recorded throughout the
gambling sequence. Participants in all conditions were
prompted six times during the task to enter their current bal
ance in a space provided on their computer screen. The
prompts followed wins and losses an equal number of
times. The control computer recorded their actual adjusted
balance after each interval. For example, if a participant
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
chose the combination of black/5 and bet $.30 and the
actual outcome was red/6, $.30 was deducted from that par
ticipant's actual recorded balance. Similarly, if the actual
outcome was red/5, they received an additional $.30 in their
balance. This accounting enabled us to compare partici
pants' self-reported account balance with their correct
computer-recorded balance. At the end of the sequence, a
prompt also asked the participants to enter their overall end
ing balance, which we compared with their computer
recorded balance to assess overall accuracy.
Participants who concentrated more on the task should be
more accurate in maintaining their balance because of the
cognitive nature of the task. Therefore, we assessed cogni
tive effort as a potential covariate. The measure of cognitive
effort (Cooper-Martin 1993) used a five-item, seven-point
Likert scale, with the endpoints "strongly disagree/strongly
agree" (Cronbach's a = .75, sample item, "I concentrated a
lot while making this choice").
To test the hypotheses pertaining to participants' accu
racy in maintaining their in-the-moment account balance,
we computed a difference score by calculating the discrep
ancy in the absolute values of their estimated and actual
balances. For example, if a participant estimated that his or
her balance was $1.80 and the actual balance was $1.30, the
difference score was $.50. To test the hypotheses regarding
maintaining an updated balance, we took an average of the
difference scores across all six balance prompts. Each dif
ference score for the balance prompt at the end of the
choice sequence served to assess the accuracy of the esti
mated final balance.
Finally, as a manipulation check for the time delay, each
participant responded to two five-point Likert items: "I did
not have enough time between intervals while playing the
game" and "I felt that there was too much time between
game intervals" (1 = "strongly agree," 5 = "strongly
disagree"). Participants in the short delay condition should
agree more strongly with the first statement, whereas par
ticipants in the long delay should agree more strongly with
the second statement. A one-way analysis of variance
(ANOVA) indicated that the difference in agreement with
both items across conditions was significant and in the
expected directions (p < .01). Therefore, the time delay
manipulation was successful.
Results
We predicted main effects of time delay and currency tan
gibility on accuracy in maintaining an updated balance
during the gambling sequence. The cognitive effort covari
ate was not significantly correlated with accuracy in main
taining an in-the-moment account balance and therefore
was not included in the analyses. To test Hla and H2a, we
ran an ANOVA with currency tangibility and time delay as
independent variables and average in-the-moment accu
racy as the dependent variable. The results of the overall
ANOVA showed a significant effect of both currency tan
gibility and time delay on maintaining an updated in-the
moment balance (ps < .05). No significant interaction
emerged between the two factors. An analysis of the main
effects revealed that participants using intangible currency
were significantly less accurate (F(l, 92) = 6.47,p < .05,
Mintangibie = 10-54- Mtangibie = 4.06). In addition, partici
pants in the short time delay condition were significantly
less accurate in maintaining their in-the-moment balance
(F(l, 92) = 4.40. p < .05, Mshortdelay = 9.97, Mlongdelay =
4.62). These findings support Hla and H2a.
We also predicted main effects of time delay and cur
rency tangibility on the accuracy of the overall ending bal
ance. The cognitive effort co variate correlated significantly
with this dependent variable but not with the independent
measures. Therefore, we included the covariate in the
analyses for overall balance. To test Hlb and H2b, we ran an
analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with currency tangi
bility and time delay as independent variables and overall
balance accuracy as the dependent variable. The results of
the ANCOVA showed a significant effect of currency tangi
bility (p < .05) but only a marginally significant effect of
time delay (p - .07). There was no significant interaction.
The analysis of the main effects revealed that participants
using intangible currency were significantly less accurate in
assessing their ending account balance (F(l, 91) = 5.08,/? <
■05, Mintangible = 17.04, Mtanglble = 7.28), in support of H2b.
Those who experienced a short delay between choices
were somewhat less accurate in assessing their overall bal
ance than the participants in the long delay condition, but
the difference was only marginally significant (F(l, 91) =
3.47, p - .07, Mshortdelay = 16.23, Mlongdelay = 8.07). Thus,
Hlb does not receive support.
Discussion
The results of Study 2 indicate that it is more likely that
people lose track of their spending when using intangible
currency, a prerequisite of online gambling. If a person
does not keep an accurate mental account balance when
gambling, he or she might make different betting choices.
At the end of the gambling session, the gambler also may
realize that he or she spent a different amount than that
amount mentally calculated.
Study 2 featured a real-money choice sequence and thus
contributes to mental accounting literature. Study 2 extends
this body of research by investigating the implications of
rapid, sequential choices on a gambler's ability to keep
track of his or her in-the-moment account balance. Tests of
the effects of a time delay showed that participants in the
long delay condition were more accurate than those in the
short delay condition in terms of maintaining an accurate
in-the-moment balance. The length of the delay did not
seem to have any effect on the accuracy of the end balance
though. Finally, the use of intangible currency resulted in
significantly less accuracy for both an in-the-moment bal
ance and an overall balance.
General Discussion
Gambling is arguably one of the most regulated (and con
troversial) consumer services worldwide, subject to geo-,
regional-, national-, and state-level parameters. In the
United States, the accessibility of online gambling, as a
result of the expansion of the Internet, has raised further
regulatory and legal issues. In countries where online gam
bling is legal and regulated, online gambling service
providers enable people to self-exclude from websites or
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
290 Online Gambling Environments
place deposit limits on their accounts (Chambers and
Wilcox 2009). The degree of control that U.S. and state
governments should apply, including consumer protection
issues related to the security of payments and the exclusion
of children and compulsive gamblers, remains under debate
and development. The effects of UIGEA initially caused a
precipitous drop in the weekly usage of Internet gambling
sites among some demographic segments (Annenburg
Study 2008). Federal and state governments have begun to
reconsider regulated online gambling as a source of reve
nue, with new legislation to that effect pending as of this
writing (e.g., H.R. 2266; H.R. 2267). Yet hundreds of thou
sands of people participate in gambling every month,
whether or not the practice is legal. The combined results of
our two studies add further information to the discussion of
the regulation of online gambling and have direct implica
tions for public policy makers, as well as for consumer
researchers.
The interviews we conducted in Study 1 suggest that
gamblers often employ physical controls, whether extracted
from their external environment or created by themselves,
to manage their own behavior and keep track of their
money. The Study 2 results reveal that a person's ability to
track his or her mental accounts accurately can be impeded
by the speed of decision making and the incorporation of
intangible currency.
Mental Accounts and Context Dependency
These findings support the assertion that mental accounts
can be affected by categorization and that mental account
ing occurs differently in online versus face-to-face contexts.
This finding is consistent with prior research that concludes
that context determines mental accounts in a spending
situation (Henderson and Peterson 1992; Kahneman and
Tversky 1984; Thaler 1985); the categorization of an
expense or payment affects the mental account with which
it is associated (Henderson and Peterson 1992).
A schema or categorization explanation may account for
these differences. The informants in Study 1 developed
schemas associated with casino gambling that involved
cues, such as the casino's lobby, coins to touch, music, and
people. In the absence of these cues, they accessed different
schemas and recategorized their online gambling experi
ence as playing rather than gambling. This recategorization
led to a change in their mental accounting processes.
Although gambling in a computer-mediated context
seemed less risky to our informants than gambling in a
casino, people still spend large amounts of money in this
context, without any physical cues that normally would help
them manage their mental accounts. Observers concerned
about the social impact of Internet gambling suggest that
players often forget they are playing with actual money.
Our research also suggests that the tangibility of the cur
rency used during a transaction has important implications
for mental accounting. In Study 2, we found that partici
pants who used a voucher were significantly less accurate
when keeping track of their money than those who used real
coins during the gambling sequence. The people in the
intangible currency condition also were less accurate at
reporting their balance at the end of the sequence. This
inability to maintain an accurate mental account while
using intangible currency remained consistent, regardless of
the pace at which they proceeded through the game. Even
with ample time to count their wins and losses, the impreci
sion of their calculations persisted. In contrast, participants
using physical currency were more accurate in keeping an
updated balance and reporting their ending balance, even
though they were not permitted to count their money during
the game.
Along the same lines, a universal theme in the Study 1
interviews was the use of physical surroundings to help
manage gambling decisions and assist with mental account
ing. Tangible currency helped the informants maintain con
trol over the amount of money that they gambled. For
example, Phillip said that when playing with computer
credits (intangible currency), he tended simply to "bet the
maximum" and pay less attention to the game. In the casino
environment, Phillip noted that merely "touching the chips"
allowed him to slow down his betting and spend less
money. When Nick became so absorbed in the game that he
could not keep track of his winnings, he physically removed
chips from the table and placed them in his pocket so that
he could not overspend.
In computer-mediated environments, such "forced waits"
are removed from the consumption setting. Our results con
firmed that an increased pace of decision making led to less
accurate accounting. As illustrated by Nick, when the pace
of the game is fast, gamblers do not monitor their spending;
instead, they wait for forced delays to evaluate their account
balance. When we investigated this behavior experimen
tally, we found that participants who encountered a 15-sec
ond delay between making bets in a gambling sequence
kept more accurate in-the-moment mental account balances
than those who only had a 5-second delay. The absence of
the forced wait applies not only to gambling contexts but to
a wide variety of other consumption scenarios as well. For
example, the time it takes a person to walk through a retail
store, place items in a cart, and then wait in the checkout
line gives that consumer time to consider and think about
the purchases. When shopping in a virtual storefront, con
sumers can add items to the virtual shopping cart with the
click of a mouse, and the entire shopping experience may
last only a matter of minutes.
The use of intangible currency and rapid decision making
reduced participants' accuracy in keeping track of their
money. In a casino environment, tangible currency serves
as a self-control mechanism that enforces mental account
ing guidelines and provides a cue about account balances.
In computer-mediated environments, the absence of tangi
ble currency removes these cues, such that inaccuracies and
loss of self-control affect cumulative spending. These inac
curacies become intensified by the more rapid pace of the
spending decisions.
This research also provides evidence that accurate moni
toring of spending is necessary for self-control, even among
noncompulsive gamblers. As we noted previously, service
providers that operate in countries with legal online gam
bling offer means for users to exclude themselves from the
sites or place deposit limits on their accounts (Chambers
and Wilcox 2009); several U.S. states enforce self
exclusion and betting limit rules for casinos (American
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
Gaming Association 2008). Our research suggests that leg
islative provisions that slow down or briefly stop betting
activities could further protect consumers.
The implications of these findings also may be extended
to recent technological advances in ticket in/ticket out
(TITO) coinless casino slot machines (Palmeri 2003).
These commonly used machines pay consumers with paper
vouchers that can be inserted into other machines. Man
agers of casinos are implementing these coinless slot
machines in part because they reduce the cost of labor and
speed up playing time by decreasing the number of breaks
needed to get change and refill machines. The technology
also eliminates the need for consumers to wait to be paid by
a floor worker after winning a jackpot. Our findings suggest
that coinless machines could reduce players' awareness of
the money they are spending and reduce their accuracy in
maintaining mental accounts. Vouchers necessitate the use
of intangible currency and also speed up the pace of the
game, both of which compromise mental accounting. As
with online gambling, coinless slot machines also eliminate
a built-in delay. The voucher enables people to keep play
ing until their entire balance is gone, never needing to stop
and count their money. Yet TITO technology is a bridge to
more electronic-based gambling in casinos. Anticipated
innovations include interactive slot machine interfaces,
credit promotions (e.g., tour promoters hand out slot
machine credits to customers), and the acceptance of debit
cards in the machines (Palmeri 2003; Terdiman 2003), all
of which merge the characteristics of computer-mediated
and face-to-face environments.
Several opportunities for additional research arise from
our findings. First, studies might provide a more abstract
representation of the tangible currency, such as using chips
that represent varying levels of currency rather than actual
coins. The informants in Study 1 used their casino chips to
manage their mental accounts; further investigation is
needed to clarify the mental accounting that involves a
more abstract cue.
Second, further research should explore other areas of
experiential consumption and contextualize and add exter
nal validity to our findings. Researchers might investigate
forms of consumption beyond experiential goods, such as
tangible products and services.
Third, considering the relevance for current consumption,
research should investigate the mental accounting implica
tions of using fast-pay, contactless payment methods (e.g.,
RFID). Not only do such technologies enable consumers to
pay without tangible currency, but they also reduce the nec
essary transaction time and eliminate the need for the physi
cal handling of any product or payment. According to
research related to children's and adolescents' uses of com
puter games (Griffiths and Wood 2000), it is important to
examine possible links between currency-free, computer
mediated game playing and youth adoption of intangible,
currency-intensive, computer-mediated gambling.
Conclusions
This research represents a step toward understanding the
impact of Internet-mediated gambling for individual con
sumers, particularly as government and industry efforts
continue to develop. The studies provide evidence that
computer-mediated gambling creates a different experien
tial context for participants, which may put online gamblers
at greater risk than that faced by gamblers participating in
non-electronic gambling environments. It is useful to con
sider individual characteristics and behaviors related to
gambling in both contexts, as well as the potential for gov
ernment or industry controls that would work in conjunc
tion with internal, individual, self-regulatory, psychological
and behavioral mechanisms.
References
American Gaming Association (2008), Responsible Gaming
Statutes and Regulations, 3d ed. [available at http://www.
americangaming.org/assets/files/Statutes_and_Regs_FINAL_
022009.pdf],
Annenburg Study (2008), "Internet Gambling Stays Low Among
Youth Ages 14 to 22 But Access to Gambling Sites Continues,"
Annenburg Public Policy Center, (November 26), [available at
http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/Downloads/
Releases/Release_Romer_gambling_nov25_2008/
Card%20Play ing%202008 %20Release%20nov%2025 .pdf].
Antonides, Gerrit (1994), "Mental Accounting in a Sequential
Prisoner's Dilemma Game," Journal of Economic Psychology,
15 (2), 351-75.
Baumeister, Roy F. (1994), Losing Control: How and Why People
Fail at Self-Regulation. New York: Academic Press.
and David Glen Mick (2002), "Yielding to Temptation:
Self-Control Failure, Impulsive Purchasing, and Consumer
Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, 28 (4), 670-77.
Bernhard, Bo J. (2007), "Sociological Speculations on Treating
Problem Gamblers: A Clinical Sociological Imagination via a
Bio-Psycho-Social-Sociological Model," American Behavioral
Scientist, 51 (1), 122-38.
Blalock, Garrick, David R. Just, and Daniel H. Simon (2007),
"Hitting the Jackpot or Hitting the Skids: Entertainment,
Poverty, and the Demand for State Lotteries," American Jour
nal of Economics & Sociology, 66 (July), 545-70.
Borgen, C. Winston (1976), Learning Experiences in Retailing:
Text and Cases. New York: Goodyear.
Branch. Shelly (2002), "Confessions of an Online Shopper," The
Wall Street Journal-Eastern Edition, (February 11), R8.
Bruyneel, Sabrina, Siegfried DeWitte, Kathleen D. Vohs, and Luk
Warlop (2006), "Repeated Choosing Increases Susceptibility to
Affective Product Features," International Journal of Research
in Marketing, 23 (2), 215-25.
Chambers, Clare and Craig Wilcox (2009), "Gambling on Com
pliance with the New 2005 Act: Do Organisations Fulfill New
Regulations?" International Review of Law, Computers &
Technology, 23 (November), 203-215.
Cooper-Martin, Elizabeth (1993), "Effects of Information Format
and Similarity Among Alternatives on Consumer Choice Pro
cesses," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21(3),
239-46.
Cotte, June and Kathryn Latour (2009), "Blackjack in the Kitchen:
Understanding Online versus Casino Gambling," Journal of
Consumer Research, 35 (5), 742-58.
Cypra, Dan (2010), "Kentucky House Passes Bill Taxing Online
and Phone Horse Racing Wagers," Poker News, [available at
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
292 Online Gambling Environments
http://www .pokernewsdaily .com/kentucky-house-passes-bill
taxing-online-and-phone-horse-racing-wagers-8634].
Di Gregory, Kevin V. (2010), "House Financial Services Commit
tee Considers Internet Gambling," Manatt, Phelps & Phillips,
LLP, (March 18), [available at http://manattcentral.manatt.com/
news.aspx?id=l 1168].
Duke, Annie (2007), "Establishing Consistent Enforcement Poli
cies in the Context of Internet Wagering," testimony before the
House Judiciary Committee, (November 14).
Duval, Shelley and Robert A. Wicklund (1972), A Theory of
Objective Self-Awareness. New York: Academic Press.
Eadington, William R. (2004), "The Future of Online Gambling in
the United States and Elsewhere," Journal of Public Policy &
Marketing, 23 (Fall), 214-19.
The Economist (2007), "Playing a Strong Hand," (August 29), 59.
The Economist (2009), "Log On, Ante Up," (July 10), 7-8.
Feinberg, Richard A. (1986), "Credit Cards as Spending Facilitat
ing Stimuli: A Conditioning Interpretation," Journal of Con
sumer Research, 13 (3), 348-56.
Forman, Robert F. and Lauren G. Block (2006), "The Marketing
of Opioid Medications Without Prescription Over the Internet,"
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 25 (Fall), 133—46.
Goffman, Erving (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday
Life. New York: Doubleday.
(1963), Stigma. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Griffiths, Mark and Richard T.A. Wood (2000), "Risk Factors in
Adolescence: The Case of Gambling, Videogame Playing, and
the Internet," Journal of Gambling Studies, 16 (Fall), 199-225.
Hanaway, Catherine L. (2007), Statement before the House Judi
ciary Committee Concerning Internet Gambling, (November
14).
Henderson, Pamela W. and Robert A. Peterson (1992), "Mental
Accounting and Categorization," Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, 51 (1), 92-117.
Hirschman. Elizabeth C. (1979), "Differences in Consumer Pur
chase Behavior by Credit Card Payment System," Journal of
Consumer Research, 6 (1), 58-66.
Hoffman, Donna L. and Thomas P. Novak (1996), "Marketing in
Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments: Conceptual
Foundations," Journal of Marketing, 60 (July), 50-85.
Huck, Leonard (1976), "Making the Card the Customer," Bank
ing, 68 (5), 37-39.
James, Kay C. (1999), "National Gambling Impact Study Com
mission Final Report," [available at http://govinfo.library.
unt.edu/ngisc/].
Joinson, Adam N. (1998), "Causes and Implications of Disinhib
ited Behavior on the Internet," in Psychology and the Internet:
Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Transpersonal Implications,
J. Gackenbach, ed. San Diego: Academic Press, 43-60.
Kahneman, Daniel and Amos Tversky (1984), "Choices, Values,
and Frames," American Psychologist, 39 (4), 341-50.
King, Daniel, Paul Delfabbro, and Mark Griffiths (2010), "The
Convergence of Gambling and Digital Media: Implications for
Gambling in Young People," Journal of Gambling Studies, 26
(2), 175-87.
Koyuncu, Cuneyt and Gautam Bhattacharya (2004), "The Impacts
of Quickness, Price, Payment Risk and Delivery Issues on On
Line Shopping," Journal of Socio-Economics, 33 (2), 241-52.
LaBrie, Richard A., Debi A. LaPlante, Sarah E. Nelson, Anja
Schumann, and Howard J. Shaffer (2007), "Assessing the Play
ing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports
Gambling Behavior," Journal of Gambling Behavior, 23 (June),
347-62.
LaPlante, Alice (2007), "Online Gaming: Who's In?" Informa
tionWeek, 1133 (April 9), 43^16.
Lauderdale, Mitzi and John H. Thomas (2009), "Are You Gam
bling with Your Business? What You Should Know about
Legal Differences between Gaming Ashore and Afloat," Jour
nal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 26 (June), 408-414.
Lesieur, Henry R. and Sheila B. Blume (1987), "The South Oaks
Gambling Screen (SOGS): A New Instrument for the Identifica
tion of Pathological Gamblers," American Journal of Psychia
try , 144 (9), 1184-88.
Miller, Rohan (2006), "The Need for Self Regulation and Alterna
tive Dispute Resolution to Moderate Consumer Perceptions of
Perceived Risk with Internet Gambling," UNLV Gaming
Research & Review Journal, 10 (April), 51-58.
Murray, Jeff B. (2002), "The Politics of Consumption: A Re
Inquiry on Thompson and Haytko's (1997) 'Speaking of Fash
ion'," Journal of Consumer Research, 29 (3), 427-40.
Palmeri, Christopher (2003), "Hit the Jackpot? You Won't Need a
Bucket: Coinless Slot Machines Are a Hit with Casinos and
Players Alike," BusinessWeek, (March 31), 93.
Peters, Albena (2010), "Latest Developments in the WTO Internet
Gambling Dispute and Challenges Ahead," Journal of Internet
Law, 13 (May), 3-7.
Pollio, Howard R., Tracy Henley, and Craig J. Thompson (1997),
The Phenomenology of Everyday Life. Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Prelec, Drazen and Duncan Simester (2001), "Always Leave
Home Without It: A Further Investigation of the Credit-Card
Effect on Willingness to Pay," Marketing Letters, 12 (1), 5-12.
Quittner, Joshua (1995), "Betting on Virtual Vegas," Time, 145
(June 12), 63-64.
Redelmeier, Donald A. and Amos Tversky (1994), "On the Fram
ing of Multiple Prospects," Psychological Science, 3 (3),
191-93.
Regional Review (1991), "The Long Shot," 2 (Spring), 3.
Rousso v. State of Washington (2010), No. 83040-1 (September
23).
Schlosser, Ann E. (2003), "Computers as Situational Cues: Impli
cations for Consumers' Product Cognitions and Attitudes,"
Journal of Consumer Psychology, 3 (1-2), 103-112.
Schwartz, Evan I. (1997), Webonomics: Nine Essential Principles
for Growing Your Business on the World Wide Web. New York:
Broadway Books.
Short, John A., Ederyn Williams, and Bruce Christie (1976), The
Social Psychology of Telecommunication. Chichester: John
Wiley & Sons.
Smith, Garry J. and Colin S. Campbell (2007), "Tensions and
Contentions: An Examination of Electronic Gaming Issues in
Canada," American Behavioral Scientist, 51 (Spring), 86-101.
Sullivan, Andy (2007), "New Law Won't Stop Internet Gam
bling," PCWorld, 25 (1), 30.
Taylor, Charles R. and Steven W. Kopp (1992), "Games, Con
tests, and Sweepstakes Run Afoul: A State of Legal Disorder,"
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 10 (Spring), 199-213.
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 293
Terdiman, Daniel (2003), "Slot Machines Cha-Ching No More,"
Wired News, [available at http://www.wired.com/news/
culture/1,59871 -1 .html].
Thaler, Richard (1985), "Mental Accounting and Consumer
Choice," Marketing Science, 4 (3), 199-214.
(1990), "Anomalies: Saving, Fungibility and Mental
Accounts," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4 (1), 193-205.
and Hersh M. Shefrin (1981), "An Economic Theory of
Self Control," Journal of Political Economy, 89 (2), 392-^07.
Thompson, Craig J. and Dianne L. Haytko (1997), "Speaking of
Fashion: Consumers' Use of Fashion Discourses and the
Appropriation of Countervailing Cultural Meanings," Journal
of Consumer Re search, 23 (1), 15—42.
U.S. General Accounting Office (2002), Internet Gambling: An
Overview of the Issues, Report of the United States General
Accounting Office, (Publication No. GAO-03-89). Washington,
DC: Government Printing Office [available at http://www.
gao .gov/ne w .items/d0389 .pdf].
Vohs, Kathleen D., Roy Baumeister, and Natalie Ciarocco (2005),
"Self-Regulation and Self-Presentation: Regulatory Resource
Depletion Impairs Impression Management and Effortful Self
Presentation Depletes Regulatory Resources," Journal of Per
sonality and Social Psychology, 88 (4), 632-57.
and Todd F. Heatherton (2000), "Self-Regulatory Failure:
A Resource-Depletion Approach," Psychological Science, 11
(3), 249-54.
Wajda, Nicholas (2007), "Over-Playing a Weak Hand," The
Economist, 384 (8548), 59.
Watson, Stevie, Pearson Liddell Jr., Robert S. Moore, and William
D. Eshee Jr. (2004), "The Legalization of Internet Gambling: A
Consumer Protection Perspective," Journal of Public Policy &
Marketing, 23 (Fall), 209-213.
Wedell, Douglas H. and Ulf Bockenholt (1994), "Contemplating
Single Versus Multiple Encounters of a Risky Prospect,"
American Journal of Psychology, 107 (4), 499-519.
White, Kenneth (1980), "Credit Card Debt in the Household Port
folio," Journal of Consumer Credit Management, 11, 66-75.
Wijnholds, Heiko de B. and Michael W. Little (2007), "Online
Gambling: Murky Legal Status and Vulnerable Socio
Economic Environment Poses Public Policy Challenges," Jour
nal of Internet Commerce, 6 (1), 119-38.
Yellowlees, Peter M. and Shayna Marks (2007), "Problematic
Internet Use of Internet Addiction?" Computers in Human
Behavior, 23 (3), 1447-53.
This content downloaded from 95.105.236.82 on Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:07:29 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms