Aggressive behaviour in slot machine gamblers: a preliminary observational study

Gambling is acknowledged to have many negative effects on individuals. However, from a psychological perspective, aggression as an outcome of gambling has been largely overlooked to date. The incidence of aggressive behaviour was monitored in 303 slot machine players over four 6-hr. observation periods. Analysis identified four types of common aggressive behaviour. These were (1) verbal aggression towards the gambling arcade staff, (2) verbal aggression towards the slot machines, (3) verbal aggression towards other slot machine players, and (4) physical aggression towards the slot machines. The findings add support to the increasing number of studies highlighting a possible link between gambling and aggression.