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The brothers do not gamble
because they hate themselves or as a way to punish themselves. Difficulty
coping with the deaths of their parents may play a role in their problem,
but their main motivation appears to be the thrill of the experience rather
than escape. The brothers want to win but can tolerate losing. In fact,
they claim that losing is nearly as good as winning. About halfway through
the book, they challenge the reader to experience a big loss in order
to understand it. But perhaps the brothers’ losses were little different
from their wins because the losses have no real consequences for them.
Through their jobs as English professors and their inheritances, the brothers
have no shortage of money to gamble with. Even by the end of the story,
after losing in excess of $250,000, they still appear to have enough money
left to pay for a good lawyer.
The book also shows how gambling
as a social activity does not necessarily protect people from developing
gambling problems. Not only do the brothers encourage one another to go
to the casino, but they also prevent each other from leaving. There are
instances in the book where one of them is ready to leave the casino,
but the other wants to stay to win back his losses, so the first one stays,
and thus, continues to gamble. Sometimes, the brothers played all night
since they were never ready to leave at the same time.
Another insight is the apparent
awareness of the addiction and the nearly complete lack of motivation
to do anything about it. The brothers appear to be "happily" addicted
to gambling.
The weakest parts of the story
are the stories of their childhood and their relationships with their
parents. The family history is pretty ordinary — lacking any history
of abuse, poverty, drug use, gambling problems or trauma that would make
their family a plausible source of the problem. Perhaps their emotionally
complex family history is a factor, but nothing leads the reader to say
"There's the problem; there's the cause." This suggests that they were
not trying to escape from anything in particular, but instead, acting
like spoiled middle-class kids that just want to have fun.
The one strong family connection
is the deaths of three family members in rapid succession: their eldest
brother, Don, followed by their mother, and then, their father. These
deaths contributed to an acceleration of their gambling problems, but
their problems appear to have started before the deaths. The main effect
of the deaths and the substantial inheritance they received was to lessen
the threat of any real financial consequences of gambling.
While too much space is taken
up regarding their rather ordinary relationship with their parents, hardly
any space is given to discussing the role of their wives and girlfriends.
For instance, exactly how did Stephen’s wife feel while he was throwing
away his inheritance? The only hint we get from the book is a brief mention
of a credit card ritual. Before heading off to a casino, Stephen would
take out his credit cards and leave them on the table, which was an empty
gesture since the brothers would obtain casino credit.
Also unexplained is the death
of their brother Don and its effect on them. When did it occur relative
to the beginning of their gambling problems? The authors hardly mention
Don’s death, except to say that it caused them both to quit smoking.
The main conflict that drives
the plot of the story is that the brothers are accused and arrested for
colluding with a dealer to try and cheat the casino. The casino had no
real evidence other than a few sloppy plays by the dealer. It’s a
cautionary tale that suggests that you should not expect a casino to appreciate
you after you gamble away your money. It is also a warning about the political
power of the gambling industry in the United States.
At the end of the book, the
reader is left dangling without any real resolution of the story or the
gambling problems; although the flap on the book cover informs you that
the case was dismissed. It is particularly interesting how the casino
seemed to have so much difficulty understanding these brothers, and assumed
that after gambling away so much money, the brothers must want to cheat.
We recommend this book for
its insights into the motivations for problem gambling. The reasons offered
for their gambling passion are varied. They include grieving, early wins
and an emotionally complicated family of origin. But the brothers are
most convincing when they discuss the thrill of risk and the excitement
of entering a social world separated from their ordinary lives. The price
the authors pay for this spice in their life, however, is excessive: $250,000.
Why do people gamble? There
is no single reason. Part of this book's value for counsellors and researchers
is that it paints a picture of interconnecting dots, which journals in
the field have difficulty capturing. It also left these reviewers with
a desire to visit this changing part of the Mississippi landscape. We'd
like to taste that Gulf seafood and see the bright lights on the beaches
This book review was not
peer-reviewed.
Submitted: May 3, 2001
For correspondence:
Nigel Turner, PhD, Scientist
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2S1
Phone: (416) 535-8501 Ext. 6063
Fax: (416) 595-6899
Email: Nigel_Turner@camh.net
Nigel Turner received
his doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Western
Ontario in 1995. He has worked at the Addiction Research Division of
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for the past five years where
he developed psychometric tools to measure addiction processes. He is
currently focused on understanding the mental processes related to gambling
addiction. He has extensive experience in research methods including
psychometrics, surveys, experimental studies, computer simulations,
interviews and focus groups. He has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed
journals on problem gambling and other topics and he has made many conference
presentations.
Barry Fritz is
professor of Psychology at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut.
He is a member of the board of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling.
He graduated with a BA from the University of Vermont, an MA from Connecticut
College, and a PhD from Yeshiva University.
"My current research interests
are focused on understanding the motivation to gamble and those factors
which differentiate between problem gamblers and recreational gamblers.
I enjoy the game of poker and hope that my research will keep me on
the recreational side of the table."
Video Review
Winning Strategies: Slots
with Video Poker (1997)
Running time: 30 minutes
Producer: Winning
Strategies
Available at Amazon.com for US $17.99
Reviewed by Nigel E. Turner,
PhD
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
E-mail: Nigel_Turner@camh.net
Late one Saturday night, I
saw an advertisement on TV for a video about how to win at slots. My first
reaction was "How can they legally sell such crap?" The advertisement
promised legal "casino-busting strategies … designed to make you
a better, smarter slots player." "Not possible," I said to myself, but
being curious, I ordered a copy.
The big surprise was that it
was actually quite good. The video is part of Frank Scoblete's Winning
Strategies series and is narrated by Frank Scoblete. James Coburn briefly
introduces the video and narrates a few bridging sequences. Far from being
filled with misinformation, the video contains a lot of good information
about slots. It includes a brief history of slots, a discussion of how
slots actually work, a comparison of payouts in various cities around
North America, money management strategies and popular myths about slots
and why they aren't true. There is a brief section near the end on video
poker, but it's mostly just a plug for yet another video devoted entirely
to video poker.
My aim in writing this review
is to describe the extent to which the information in the video is accurate
or misleading and to evaluate the video for potential educational or counselling
uses.
Overall, the video gives a
number of good tips. It provides information about the nature of slot
play and the different types of games available. It recommends using the
spin button rather than the lever since less work is involved. It recommends
playing in your "comfort zone," only betting with money you feel comfortable
about losing. It also suggests avoiding "progressive machines." A progressive
machine is one in which the top prize increases each time a person plays
the machine until the jackpot is won. These machines tend to have a lower
payout to compensate for the large jackpot prize. The video also advises
avoiding the oversized machines called "Big Berthas" that have a lower
payout percentage than other slots because they take up more room.
But this video won't escape
criticism completely — a few of the points were not adequately explained.
In addition, the video encourages betting with "maximum coins" (i.e. the
maximum bet allowed — often three or five quarters on a quarter machine)
because the best payout comes with larger denominations. This is true.
Typically, a slot may pay out 88 per cent for one quarter, but 92 per
cent with three quarters. So, max coin does produce a higher payout, but
most often the minimum bet will still ultimately lead to lower losses
in spite of the lower payback. The video does state that losing 10 per
cent of $10 is still less than losing two per cent of $100, but I don't
feel that the point is made strongly enough. I also didn't like the way
the video implies that money management strategies can help you win. They
can't. They can only help you avoid losing too much money. The video may
influence viewers and give them undue confidence in the strategies recommended
in the video. As a result, they may gamble thinking that money management
can help them win.
Many problem gamblers might
benefit from watching parts of this video. However, be very selective
about which parts of the video to show them because some sections promote
the idea that slots are fun and exciting. The sections on how slots work
and gambling myths are particularly good and would be appropriate for
clients. The section about money management strategies may not be helpful
because it sounds like keeping to the system will help you win. However,
keeping to the system will only limit how much you lose. For a non-problem
population (i.e. primary prevention and education), the entire video may
be appropriate if followed by a brief discussion of the limits of money
management.
This video is actually quite
good and sections of it might be useful in a clinical setting, but only
under supervision and with appropriate debriefing. Although it comes with
criticism, it does provide better information than many other "how to
gamble" books and videos. I have only two objections. First, the promised
video poker section was little more than a plug for another video. (Advertising
gambling in books and videos is very common.) Second, the advertisement
of this video promises strategies that will help you win. Such a promise
would be impossible since slot wins are purely a matter of chance; however,
people will buy the product expecting to learn how to win.
They've marketed it quite cleverly
— it doesn't say you will win, but only that you "might" win since
careful playing strategies — specifically money management —
can stretch your playing time without stretching your risk. I suspect
that the people who will buy this video after watching the advertisement
will be annoyed when they realize that it doesn't tell them how to win.
However, it would be interesting to survey people who purchased the video
to see if the video influenced how they play.
This video review was
not peer-reviewed.
Submitted: August 1, 2000
For correspondence:
Nigel Turner, PhD, Scientist
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
33 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2S1
Phone: (416) 535-8501 Ext. 6063
Fax: (416) 595-6899
Email: Nigel_Turner@camh.net
Nigel Turner received
his doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Western
Ontario in 1995. He has worked at the Addiction Research Division of
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health for the past five years where
he developed psychometric tools to measure addiction processes. He is
currently focused on understanding the mental processes related to gambling
addiction. He has extensive experience in research methods including
psychometrics, surveys, experimental studies, computer simulations,
interviews and focus groups. He has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed
journals on problem gambling and other topics and he has made many conference
presentations.
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