Regular Gamblers Research Articles

Mood, motives, and money: An examination of factors that differentiate online and non-online young adult gamblers

Background and aimsTo date, there is a lack of research on psychological factors associated with young adult online gambling. The current study examined differences between young adult online and non-online gamblers, using information gathered at baseline and over 30 days during which participants reported on their moods, gambling behaviors, and reasons for initiating and discontinuing gambling.MethodsParticipants were 108 young adult regular gamblers (i.e., gambling four or more times in the past month) who participated in a 30-day daily diary study.ResultsMale gender, baseline coping motives for gambling and negative affect averaged across the 30 days emerged as significant correlates of online gambling, over and above other background variables. Online gamblers also scored higher on a baseline measure of pathological gambling. Over the 30 days of self-monitoring, online gamblers spent more time gambling, and won more money gambling, whereas non-online gamblers consumed more alcohol while gambling. Online gambling was more often initiated to make money, because of boredom and to demonstrate skills, whereas non-online gambling was more often initiated for social reasons and for excitement. Online gambling was more often discontinued because of boredom, fatigue or distress, whereas non-online gambling was discontinued because friends stopped gambling or mood was improved.Discussion and conclusionsThis study provides preliminary evidence that coping strategies may be particularly important to reduce risks for online gamblers, whereas strategies for non-online gamblers should focus on the social aspects of gambling.

Impulsivity and predictive control are associated with suboptimal action-selection and action-value learning in regular gamblers

Heightened impulsivity and cognitive biases are risk factors for gambling problems. However, little is known about precisely how these factors increase the risks of gambling-related harm in vulnerable individuals. Here, we modelled the behaviour of 87 community-recruited regular, but not clinically problematic, gamblers during a binary-choice reinforcement-learning game, to characterize the relationships between impulsivity, cognitive biases and the capacity to make optimal action selections and learn about action-values. Impulsive gamblers showed diminished use of an optimal (Bayesian-derived) probability estimate when selecting between candidate actions, and showed slower learning rates and enhanced non-linear probability weighting while learning action values. Critically, gamblers who believed that it is possible to predict winning outcomes (as ‘predictive control’) failed to use the game's reinforcement history to guide their action selections. Extensive evidence attests to the ease with which gamblers can erroneously perceive structure in the reinforcement history of games when there is none. Our findings demonstrate that the generic and specific risk factors of impulsivity and cognitive biases can interfere with the capacity of some gamblers to utilize structure when it is available in the reinforcement history of games, potentially increasing their risks of sustaining gambling-related harms.

Reduced inhibitory control predicts persistence in laboratory slot machine gambling

Impairments in inhibitory control characterize a range of addictive behaviours including gambling disorder. This study investigated the relationship between a neuropsychological measure of inhibitory control and behaviour on a simulated slot machine that included a measure of gambling persistence, in a non-clinical sample of regular gamblers. Regular gamblers (n = 75) performed a laboratory slot machine task for 30 trials where they could win real money, followed by a persistence phase under extinction (i.e. without wins). Participants also completed a stop-signal task, along with measures of gambling-related cognitions, social desirability, and symptoms of disordered gambling. In hierarchical regression models, reduced inhibitory control was found to predict greater persistence and a higher subjective desire to play again after both wins and near-misses (i.e. unsuccessful outcomes close to the jackpot). These data illustrate the impact of low inhibitory control on relevant behavioural tendencies in a group of regular gamblers. Our results help elucidate a cognitive process that may contribute to problem gambling, with implications for screening and treatment.

Personality Disorders and Erroneous Beliefs in Pathological Gambling

This study investigated the extent to which pathological gambling and gambling-related erroneous beliefs are related to personality disorders and the general dysfunctional beliefs that are common to these disorders. Respondents were recruited from the general community by advertising in community newspapers in southern Australia. Participants were asked to contact the researchers and were administered a short screening telephone interview to ensure that volunteers met study criteria. A package of measures, a consent form and other related information were mailed to them for self-completion. Once this was returned, participants were again interviewed by phone to validate their responses and finalise data collection. The sample comprised 140 regular gamblers who were recruited from the general public. A variety of self- report and semi structured questionnaires were administered, including the NORC DSM-IV Screen for Gambling Problems, The 21-item PDI (Peters et al. Delusions Inventory), the PAI-BOR measure of borderline personality disorder and the Gambling Related Cognition Scale (GRCS). Pathological gambling scores were strongly related to scores on borderline personality disorder measure as well as gambling-specific belief scores. A path analysis showed that personality disorders are only weakly related to gambling-related belief after controlling for delusion-proneness. In other words, there is evidence of a pathway between personality disorder scores, delusion-proneness scores and Gambling Related Cognition Scale scores which, in turn, are positively associated with pathological gambling scores. Dysfunctional beliefs associated with common personality disorders such as borderline personality may make people more susceptible to the gambling-related erroneous cognitions commonly held by pathological gamblers.

Predicting gambling behaviour and problems from implicit and explicit positive gambling outcome expectancies in regular gamblers

Outcome expectancies are the positive or negative effects that individuals anticipate may occur from engaging in a given behaviour. Although explicit outcome expectancies have been found to play an important role in gambling, research has yet to assess the role of implicit outcome expectancies in gambling. In two studies, we investigated whether implicit and explicit positive gambling outcome expectancies were independent predictors of gambling behaviour (i.e. amount of time spent and money risked gambling; Study 1) and problem gambling severity (Study 2). In both studies, implicit positive gambling outcome expectancies were assessed by having regular gamblers (N = 58 in Study 1; N = 96 in Study 2) complete a gambling outcome expectancy reaction time (RT) task. A self-report measure of positive gambling outcome expectancies was used to assess participants' explicit positive gambling outcome expectancies. Both the RT task and self-report measure of positive gambling outcome expectancies significantly contributed unique as well as shared variance in the prediction of self-reported gambling behaviour (Study 1) and problem gambling severity (Study 2). Findings from the current research point to the importance of using both direct and indirect assessment modes when examining the role of outcome expectancies in gambling.

Determining optimal placement for pop-up messages: evaluation of a live trial of dynamic warning messages for electronic gaming machines

Dynamic warning messages are a harm minimization strategy aimed at preventing or reducing gambling-related problems by assisting individuals to make informed choices about their gambling. Laboratory studies have demonstrated the efficacy of dynamic warnings in facilitating responsible gambling. This article presents the results of a trial of the related effectiveness of dynamic warnings appearing either in the middle or on the periphery of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) screens in commercial gambling venues. Regular gamblers (n = 667) were surveyed to assess their recall of warning messages and the perceived impact of message placement on thoughts and behaviours. Messages appearing in the middle of screens were recalled to a greater extent, and respondents reported that these were more impactful and useful than messages on the periphery of screens. As one of the first trials of dynamic warning messages in operating EGM venues, the results provide important verification and validation of previous laboratory research. Results demonstrate that dynamic warning messages appearing in the middle of an EGM screen during play are likely to be a more effective harm minimization intervention than messages on the periphery of EGM screens.

The Activation of Reward Versus Relief Gambling Outcome Expectancies in Regular Gamblers: Relations to Gambling Motives.

Gambling outcome expectancies refer to the anticipated outcomes that gamblers expect will occur from gambling (i.e., learned memory associations between gambling cues, behavior, and outcomes). Unlike previous approaches to gambling outcome expectancies that have predominantly focused on the valence of outcome expectancies (positive vs. negative), the present study investigated two specific types of positive gambling outcome expectancies: reward and relief gambling outcome expectancies. Specifically, the primary purpose of the current research was to examine whether gambling prime exposure activates different types of positive gambling outcome expectancies in enhancement- versus coping-motivated gamblers. Fifty adult, community-recruited regular gamblers performed a reaction time (RT) task and completed a self-report expectancy scale, both designed to assess reward and relief gambling outcome expectancies. They also completed the Gambling Motives Questionnaire (Stewart and Zack in Addiction 103:1110-1117 2008) to assess their levels of coping and enhancement motives for gambling. As hypothesized, reward gambling outcome expectancies were more strongly activated by gambling prime exposure than relief outcome expectancies on the RT task for gamblers with high enhancement motives. On the self-report expectancy measure, high enhancement-motivated gamblers endorsed stronger reward gambling outcome expectancies than low enhancement-motivated gamblers, and high coping-motivated gamblers endorsed stronger relief gambling outcome expectancies than low coping-motivated gamblers. Results suggest that automatic activation of reward gambling outcome expectancies is particularly strong for high enhancement-motivated gamblers. Possible reasons for the failure to observe an association between coping gambling motives and automatic relief gambling outcome expectancies are discussed.

Gambling Attitudes and Beliefs Predict Attentional Bias in Non-problem Gamblers.

Problem gambling has been identified as a public health concern in Australia, and a considerable proportion of regular gamblers may be at risk of developing gambling related problems. Attentional bias to salient cues has been observed in substance addictions, and to some extent, in problem gamblers. This bias appears to be indicative of an increase in sensitisation to salient cues as a result of continued reforcement of a related behaviour. To test for an attentional bias to gambling-related stimuli in non-problem gamblers, the relationships between gambling frequency, gambling attitudes and beliefs (GABS-23), and attentional bias were investigated. Participants (N=38) viewed simultaneous pairs of gambling-related and neutral images and performed a dot probe task, during which their eye-movements were recorded. This enabled both direct and indirect measures of attentional bias to be obtained. Gambling frequency and GABS-23 scores predicted both direct and indirect measures of a bias in the maintenance of attention to gambling cues. No bias in attentional engagement was found. These results suggest that regular gamblers who have not yet developed any related problems show signs of sensitisation to gambling cues and may be at risk of progressing further towards problem gambling.

Understanding the relationship between pathological gambling and gambling-related cognition scores: the role of alcohol use disorder and delusion proneness

There is considerable evidence for an association between pathological gambling and scores on validated psychometric measures of erroneous gambling-related cognitions. However, a potential problem with this literature is that samples of pathological gamblers score higher on indicators of co-morbidity (e.g. substance misuse) that are also associated with poorer decision-making and reasoning abilities. We aimed to examine the relationship between pathological gambling and gambling-related erroneous beliefs after controlling for alcohol misuse. A sample of 140 regular gamblers completed a detailed psychological assessment including measures of pathological gambling (NORC DSM-IV Screen Self-Administered), delusion proneness (the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory), alcohol use (the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and gambling beliefs (Gambling-Related Cognitions Scale). Pathological gamblers scored higher than other regular gamblers on all these measures. Although alcohol use disorder was not directly related to delusion proneness, a combination of higher alcohol use disorder and delusion proneness was associated with higher gambling-related cognition scores. Our findings confirm previous evidence supporting an association between pathological gambling and greater endorsement of erroneous gambling-related cognitions. Alcohol misuse and delusion proneness may be factors that strengthen this association.

Problem Gambling Features and Gendered Gambling Domains Amongst Regular Gamblers in a Swedish Population-Based Study

This study aimed to investigate, from a gender perspective, how different features of problem gambling present in men and women who gamble regularly in Sweden were distributed in four domains based on gambling type (chance or strategy) and setting (public or domestic). Problem gambling features were based on the nine items in the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). It was hypothesized that men and women gamble in different domains. Further, it was hypothesized that male gamblers overall experienced more problems with gambling than female gamblers, although in the same domains they would report the same level of problems. A further hypothesis predicted that regular female gamblers would experience more health and social problems and men would experience more financial difficulties. Interviews with a subsample of gamblers (n = 3191) from a Swedish nationally representative sample (n = 8179) was used to examine how features of problem gambling correspond with gender and the domains. Only the first hypothesis was fully supported. Men were more likely to participate in forms of gambling requiring strategy in a public setting, and women were more likely to participate in chance-based gambling in a domestic setting. Male and female gamblers had similar levels of problem gambling in the bi-variate analysis, but if controlling for age and gambling in multiple domains, women were more at risk than men. Additionally, men and women presented similar health and economic situations. The differences between male and female gamblers in Sweden have implications for research and prevention.

‘It wasn't a very encouraging environment’: influence of early family experiences on problem and at-risk gamblers in Victoria, Australia

Prior research suggests that at-risk and problem gamblers are more likely to have experienced early family dysfunction and exposure to gambling within the family in early childhood. However, little is known about the ways in which early childhood experiences contribute to at-risk and problem gambling in adulthood. Drawing on life history interviews with 48 participants, this article shows that the vast majority of regular gamblers in our study had been exposed to gambling as children in their family of origin. It also shows that different experiences of gambling within the early family were associated with contrasting gambling forms and risk levels in adulthood. Several at-risk and problem gamblers reported having had a parent or other family member with problematic gambling behaviour, while low-risk gamblers had experienced gambling in their early family life as purely recreational. In addition, the majority of the problem and at-risk gamblers had experienced conflicts, lack of encouragement and support, negativity, emotional distance and lack of communication in their early family life. A few also reported experiencing various forms of abuse as children. This paper shows that early exposure to problematic gambling and early family dysfunction impacted substantially on the participants' lives as adults and contributed to problem gambling.

Striatal connectivity changes following gambling wins and near-misses: Associations with gambling severity.

Frontostriatal circuitry is implicated in the cognitive distortions associated with gambling behaviour. ‘Near-miss’ events, where unsuccessful outcomes are proximal to a jackpot win, recruit overlapping neural circuitry with actual monetary wins. Personal control over a gamble (e.g., via choice) is also known to increase confidence in one's chances of winning (the ‘illusion of control’).Using psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses, we examined changes in functional connectivity as regular gamblers and non-gambling participants played a slot-machine game that delivered wins, near-misses and full-misses, and manipulated personal control. We focussed on connectivity with striatal seed regions, and associations with gambling severity, using voxel-wise regression.For the interaction term of near-misses (versus full-misses) by personal choice (participant-chosen versus computer-chosen), ventral striatal connectivity with the insula, bilaterally, was positively correlated with gambling severity. In addition, some effects for the contrast of wins compared to all non-wins were observed at an uncorrected (p < .001) threshold: there was an overall increase in connectivity between the striatal seeds and left orbitofrontal cortex and posterior insula, and a negative correlation for gambling severity with the connectivity between the right ventral striatal seed and left anterior cingulate cortex.These findings corroborate the ‘non-categorical’ nature of reward processing in gambling: near-misses and full-misses are objectively identical outcomes that are processed differentially. Ventral striatal connectivity with the insula correlated positively with gambling severity in the illusion of control contrast, which could be a risk factor for the cognitive distortions and loss-chasing that are characteristic of problem gambling.

Psychiatric co-morbidity in problem and pathological gamblers: Investigating the confounding influence of alcohol use disorder

Pathological gambling is known to be associated with a higher than average prevalence of psychological co-morbidities including a range of psychiatric conditions. A problem with much of this literature, however, is that such problems are also frequently found in populations affected by alcohol use disorder, which is common in populations of pathological gamblers. Accordingly, the principal aim of this study was to profile the comorbidities present in a sample of pathological gamblers, comparing those who did, and did not, additionally meet criteria for alcohol use disorder. A sample of 140 community-recruited regular gamblers completed a number of measures including the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire, NORC DSM-IV Screen Self-Administered and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Comparisons showed that most psychiatric conditions (and in particular personality disorders) were significantly more prevalent in those with a dual diagnosis, followed by problem gamblers and then by those with neither disorder. This suggests that high rates of psychiatric illness in pathological gambling may be strongly influenced by co-occurring alcohol problems.

Aripiprazole: A new risk factor for pathological gambling? A report of 8 case reports

ObjectiveIt is commonly accepted that pathological gambling results from the interaction of multiple risk factors. Among these, dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) prescribed for Parkinson disease can be cited. Another dopamine agonist, aripiprazole, could be a new risk factor. We decided to explore this potential adverse drug reaction (ADR). MethodBased on a cohort of 166 pathological gamblers starting treatment in our department, data of each of the 8 patients treated by aripiprazole at inclusion were analyzed. ResultsThe patients involved were schizophrenic or bipolar, mostly young men with a history of addictive disorders and regular gambling prior to the prescription of aripiprazole. For each one of them, the causality of aripiprazole was considered, using an algorithm. The probability that pathological gambling is actually due to aripiprazole is “possible” in 7 cases out of 8, and “doubtful” in one. ConclusionsAdverse drug reactions were confronted with other already published case reports. Dopamine partial agonist mechanism of aripiprazole could explain the occurrence of pathological gambling.

Flush Times &amp; Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson by Joshua D. Rothman (review)

Flush Times & Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson. By Joshua D. Rothman. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2012. Pp. 440. Cloth, $29. 95.)Reviewed by Richard BellIn his 1838 address to the Springfield Lyceum, Abraham Lincoln warned his audience of the perilous consequences of lawlessness in the rapidly expanding republic. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs, form the every-day news of the times, Lincoln lamented, before singling out recent riots in Mississippi and St. Louis:In the Mississippi case, they first commenced by hanging the regular gamblers; set of men, certainly not following for livelihood, very useful, or very honest occupation; but one which, so far from being forbidden by the laws, was actually licensed by an act of the Legislature, passed but single year before. Next, negroes, suspected of conspiring to raise an insurrection, were caught up and hanged in all parts of the State: then, white men, supposed to be leagued with the negroes. Thus went on this process of hanging,. till, dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees upon every road side; and in numbers almost sufficient, to rival the native Spanish moss of the country, as drapery of the forest.1To Lincoln, the events in Mississippi were the dangerous in example of broader phenomenon: the trampling of the rule of law on the fringes of American empire. To Joshua D. Rothman, this plague of violence in the Cotton Kingdom represents something more: the anxieties attending the birth of new society in the Deep South, founding built on slave labor and on speculation, on hustle and on confidence, on avarice and on insecurity.By 1835, Mississippi was flush. Possessing some of the most fertile soil on the continent, newly cleared of Choctaw Indians, and filling quickly with white settlers and many more enslaved black migrants, the state was booming. Cotton production spurred massive investment and a rampant culture of speculation there. Men accumulated'paper fortunes' (7). Indeed, Rothman argues, much of this overnight affluence was projection, a series of bookkeeping fictions (8) that required careful elaboration and maintenance.Among the company of fast-talking lawyers, hustlers, and confidence men setting up shop in Mississippi was Virgil Stewart. The protagonist in Rothman's account of social and cultural upheaval on the leading edge of the market revolution, Stewart was protean figure, ever-ready with tall tale or an alias as the situation required. Red-haired and of Scotch-Irish ancestry, Stewart arrived in Mississippi around 1831 in hopes of taking share of the spoils from the Choctaw Cession, only to find the land auction rigged to favor the state's nascent elites. Stewart had to settle for just 40 acres, hardly enough to transform himself into gentleman farmer and plantation master. Disappointed and disillusioned, he took to doing favors and running errands for better-established older men, ingratiating himself.One such errand in January 1834 found Stewart hot on the trail of John Murrell, Virginia transplant and sometime horse thief, who had apparently stolen slaves from local plantation. Giving false name, Stewart won Murrell's confidence and gathered enough incriminating information to see to it that Murrell was arrested and tried. Enamored of his own achievement and eager to impress his fellow settlers, Stewart soon took to bragging about their time together, exaggerating Murrell's villainy and boasting of his own moral principle and derring-do in sensational tell-all pamphlet. …

The Clustering of Psychiatric Disorders in High-Risk Gambling Populations

The aims of this study were to examine the associations between psychiatric disorders and pathological gambling (PG) and the clustering of psychiatric disorders in high risk gambler populations. The sample comprised 140 regular gamblers who were recruited from the general public. A variety of self- report and semi structured questionnaires was administered, including the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4th Edition, NORC DSM-IV Screen for Gambling Problems Self- administered and Problem Gambling Severity Index. Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders and personality disturbances were found to be more prevalent amongst pathological gamblers than other gamblers with the strongest differences observed for mood and anxiety-related disorders. Almost two-thirds of pathological gamblers reported both an anxiety or mood disorder in conjunction with another type of disorder. These differences between the gambling groups existed even after controlling for gender. The results highlight the high rates of co-morbidity in pathological gamblers in the community and the extent to which anxiety and mood disorders co-existing with other forms of pathology. These results highlight the significant challenges facing treatment services in the treatment of PG and the extent to which this should be treated as the primary disorder.

Expressing Gambling-Related Cognitive Biases in Motor Behaviour: Rolling Dice to Win Prizes

Cognitive perspectives on gambling propose that biased thinking plays a significant role in sustaining gambling participation and, in vulnerable individuals, gambling problems. One prominent set of cognitive biases include illusions of control involving beliefs that it is possible to influence random gaming events. Sociologists have reported that (some) gamblers believe that it is possible to throw dice in different ways to achieve gaming outcomes (e.g., 'dice-setting' in craps). However, experimental demonstrations of these phenomena are lacking. Here, we asked regular gamblers to roll a computer-simulated, but fair, 6 sided die for monetary prizes. Gamblers allowed the die to roll for longer when attempting to win higher value bets, and when attempting to hit high winning numbers. This behaviour was exaggerated in gamblers motivated to keep gambling following the experience of almost-winning in gambling games. These results suggest that gambling cognitive biases find expression in the motor behaviour of rolling dice for monetary prizes, possibly reflecting embodied substrates.

Effects of Gambling-Related Cues on the Activation of Implicit and Explicit Gambling Outcome Expectancies in Regular Gamblers

The current research examined whether the presentation of gambling-related cues facilitates the activation of gambling outcome expectancies using both reaction time (RT) and self-report modes of assessment. Gambling outcome expectancies were assessed by having regular casino or online gamblers (N = 58) complete an outcome expectancy RT task, as well as a self-report measure of gambling outcome expectancies, both before and after exposure to one of two randomly assigned cue conditions (i.e., casino or control video). Consistent with hypotheses, participants exposed to gambling-related cues (i.e., casino cue video condition) responded faster to positive outcome expectancy words preceded by gambling prime relative to non-gambling prime pictures on the post-cue RT task. Similarly, participants in the casino cue video condition self-reported significantly stronger positive gambling outcome expectancies than those in the control cue video condition following cue exposure. Activation of negative gambling outcome expectancies was not observed on either the RT task or self-report measure. The results indicate that exposure to gambling cues activates both implicit and explicit positive gambling outcome expectancies among regular gamblers.

Profile of Child Labourers in a Rural Area of West Bengal: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Child labour in India is the practice where children are engaged in Economic activities. Poverty, lack of good school infrastructures and growth of informal economy are considered as the important causes of child labour in India. According to UNICEF India has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age. Objective: To describe the job pattern of Child labourers in a rural Block of West Bengal and to assess the socio-demographic characteristic of child labourers under study .Materials and Methods: A Cross sectional Observational study was conducted in Paharhati Block in the district of Burdwan, West Bengal from December 2012 to February 2013 among children aged 5 to 14 years. Assuming 6.8% of the 5-14 years population engaged in child labour , the estimated study population would be about 2080. About 5% of this estimated study population i.e. 104 would be involved in the study. With design effect of 2, the number would be 208 and was selected through 30 cluster sampling and about 7 child labourers per cluster were gathered by 'Snowball' technique was used for for data collection . Data was compiled and analyzed by SPSS 16.0 and presented in tables as proportions. Results: The study done on 210 participants revealed that Mean age of participants was 12 years. Male participants 72.4% and Female 27.6%. Majority of participants belonged to Hindu community i.e 63.3% and 67.1% child labourers were from locality . 51.9% had primary education and rest were illiterate. 54.8% belonged to nuclear family and 63.3% from lower socioeconomic status. Mean duration of present working was 34 months and mean duration of each shift was 8.23 hours mainly in afternoon session (66.7%) . 47.6% had addictions to different substances and 17.6% were engaged in regular Gambling. 40% participants were happy about their present situation of life and 60% were unhappy. 71% children belonged to illiterate mothers. Force by parents(47.65) was major cause of school dropout and poverty (43.85%) was main cause of working. Salary/wages were taken and spent by fathers in 58.6% cases and fathers mainly abused children(41%). Proper legislation , imposition of penalties can not only solve problems. Government, NGO s and common people should work jointly for permanent solution of the problem. I. Background: Child labour in India is the practice where children engaged in Economic activities, on part time or full time basis. The practice deprives children of their childhood and is harmful to their physical and mental development. Poverty, lack of good school infrastructures and growth of informal economy are considered as the important causes of child labour in India 1 . UNICEF estimated that India has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age. ILO and FAO estimated that 60% to 70% of child labour is deployed in agricultural and related activities. Outside of agriculture, child labour is observed in almost all informal sectors of Indian Economy 2 . The study relating to the issue of child labour in rural area of West Bengal is not very prominent and the present study is planned to supplement the existing information, if present. Objectives:

Forgetting the anxiety: Gamblers' reactions to outcome uncertainty

Uncertainty about whether an episode will end positively or negatively elicits anticipatory emotions such as excitement and anxiety. The within-experience existence of anticipatory emotions can impact the evaluations of the event. Given that gamblers choose to play games with uncertain outcomes, it is reasonable to assume that they feel anticipatory emotions that will positively impact their evaluation of the experience. However, the results here paint a different picture. Study 1 reveals that the uncertainty about whether an event will be positive or negative (outcome valence uncertainty) elicits within-experience emotions which significantly impacted the evaluation of the experience amongst gamblers. In Study 2 gamblers did not accurately forecast within-experience anticipatory emotions. Although Study 1 shows that less outcome valence uncertainty was preferable, gamblers in Study 2 predicted that more uncertainty would bring more enjoyment. Study 3 provides evidence that within-experience emotions are not explicitly remembered by gamblers which is offered as an explanation for the inaccuracy in forecasting. The results provide insight into why regular gamblers continue to gamble.