RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Are different forms of gambling motivated by different personality factors? How are personality factors of reward and punishment sensitivity, sensation seeking, impulsivity, and gambling to escape problems, related to frequency of gambling on horse races and electronic gaming machines (EGMs)?

PURPOSE
Despite previous research investigating motivations for gambling, it is still unclear what attracts people to different forms of gambling. There is evidence that different brain systems are responsible for “approach” responses to reward and “inhibition” responses to punishment or non-reward. Similarly, gambling for sensation seeking reasons and gambling to escape problems may reflect two separate brain systems of motivation. Individual differences in personality reflect differences in these approach and avoidance brain pathways. In turn, different forms of gambling may be more or less attractive to different personality types. For example, there is evidence that while horse racing gamblers seek excitement and rewards, electronic gaming machine gamblers are looking to escape life stresses and punishments. This study examined relationships between personality factors of reward and punishment sensitivity, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and gambling to escape problems, and frequency of gambling on horse races and EGMs.

HYPOTHESES
The researchers expected that more frequent gambling on horse racing would be related to higher impulsivity, higher sensitivity to reward, and higher sensation seeking. The researchers also expected that more frequent gambling on EGMs would be related to higher sensitivity to punishment, more gambling to escape problems, and lower levels of sensation seeking.

PARTICIPANTS
Participants were 117 Australian adults (65% men; average age = 27 years) who had gambled in the past year on electronic gaming machines and/or horse races.

PROCEDURE
Participants all completed an anonymous questionnaire. They reported on the frequency of their gambling on EGMs and horse races. Participants also completed self-report measures of personality factors reward and punishment sensitivity, sensation seeking, impulsivity, and gambling to escape problems.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Frequency of gambling on EGMs and horse races was measured using self-report questions. Personality factors of reward and punishment sensitivity, sensation seeking, impulsivity, and gambling to escape problems were assessed using self-report scales.

KEY RESULTS
Frequency of gambling on horse races and EGMs were negatively related, indicating that different groups of people seemed to prefer these different forms of gambling.   Partly meeting expectations, people who gambled more on horse races were more sensitive to rewards and more strongly enjoyed sensation seeking. Contrary to expectations, there was no evidence of a relationship between impulsivity and frequency of gambling on horse races. As expected, more frequent gambling on electronic gambling machines was related to higher sensitivity to punishment and more gambling to escape problems, as well as lower levels of sensation seeking.

LIMITATIONS
The non-random sample of gamblers did not reflect the characteristics of gamblers in general, and therefore conclusions cannot be generalized beyond the current sample. Self-reports of gambling on horse races and electronic gaming machines may not have reflected actual gambling behaviour. The lack of relationship between impulsivity and horse racing or EGM gambling may have been due to the relatively small sample size.

CONCLUSIONS
These results support previous research showing that different personality types with different motivations to gamble engage in different forms of gambling. In particular, EGMs gambling appears to be linked with “inhibition” motivations of escape and avoidance of punishment, whereas horse racing is linked with “approach” motivations of seeking sensations and rewards. These findings suggest that problem gambling interventions should be tailored to whether the gambling is motivated by approach or avoidance reasons.