Research on Gambling Limits and Motives

The Manitoba Gaming Control Commission (MGCC) is committed to providing the public with information that promotes responsible gambling. In keeping with this commitment, we are eager to complement our public messaging on the realities of gambling-related odds and randomness with simple, practical strategies for gambling responsibly.

Research has shown that setting and sticking to limits is a key strategy for gambling responsibly; however, our Manitobans and Gambling II (2007) study found that 36% of Manitobans do not set any kinds of limits when they gamble. In spring 2008, we conducted focus groups across the province to explore in more depth how Manitobans set and stick to limits when gambling. We continued to study limit-setting in our Limit-Setting Campaign Evaluation Report (2009), which showed that more Manitobans are experimenting with limit-setting than prior to the campaign and that setting a spending limit continues to be the most common strategy used by Manitobans to gamble responsibly.

Data from the Limit-Setting Campaign Evaluation Report (2009) were recently used as the basis for a collaborative MGCC research project with Dr. Michael Ellery, an assistant professor in the University of Manitoba's Psychology Department. The article has been accepted for publication in The Journal of Gambling Studies, making the MGCC among the first regulatory agencies in the world to publish its research in a peer-reviewed, academic journal.

The research found that an existing questionnaire for measuring motives, the Gambling Motives Questionnaire, may be improved by adding a question related to money. The MGCC is continuing its research in this area, with the hope that a more sophisticated understanding of the motives behind gambling will eventually allow the MGCC to tailor its educational messaging to people who gamble for different reasons.

Links:

• The Effect of Including a Monetary Motive Item on the Gambling Motives Questionnaire in a Sample of Moderate Gamblers (2010)
• Fact sheet: Evaluation of the Limit-Setting Campaign
• Limit-Setting Campaign Evaluation Report (2009)