2022/2023

When complete, two waves of data will be collected with the same cryptocurrency owners. Wave 1 (baseline) data was collected from December 2023 to January 2024. Wave 2 (follow-up) data was collected approximately 12 months later in January 2025. At present, baseline data is being analyzed, and a manuscript based on the results is being prepared. The results from Wave 1 and Wave 2 are being prepared for a conference presentation. The results from Wave 1 were also presented at the European Association for Gambling Studies Conference in September 2024.

Our team expects that this dataset will make a meaningful contribution to our understanding of cryptocurrency ownership among Canadians. The baseline dataset is comprised of 2,510 lifetime cryptocurrency owners and contains information on demographics, patterns of ownership, motives for use, cryptocurrency information sources, problematic speculation, and personality. The 2025 follow-up wave contained 1,250 participants. It is anticipated that this project will provide the first comprehensive assessment of cryptocurrency ownership in Canada. Furthermore, with the inclusion of the second wave of longitudinal data, our team will investigate the potential predictors of change in cryptocurrency ownership status over time.

McGrath, D.S. (2024, September). An examination of cryptocurrency ownership in Canada and its relationship with gambling. Presentation at the 14th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues, Rome, Italy.

McGrath, D.S. (2024, April). An assessment of cryptocurrency ownership in a national sample of Canadians. Presentation at the Alberta Gambling Research Institute’s (AGRI) 23rd Annual Conference, Banff, Alberta, Canada.

The primary aim of this project is to increase our understanding of the brain mechanisms which make gambling both enticing but also potentially addictive.  We are focused on the role of unpredictable reward. One model suggests that unpredictable rewards (referred to as “random-ratio reward schedule”) increase the value of gambling because they offer far more high value, short-latency payouts than a predictable schedule. One of the predictions of the model is that, in a schedule with both variable reward and variable delays between rewards, pairing the larger payouts with the shorter-latency rewards should greatly increase the value of a reward schedule.  We tested this hypothesis using a rat model from Fall, 2023 through early Summer, 2024 and showed that it was, in fact, correct.  In Fall, 2024, we ran a study testing the efficacy of a new method of food restriction because the Animal Welfare Committee felt that our previously used feeding restriction was too extreme.  That experiment proved that the new food protocol was usable and allowed us to replicate and verify previous findings that random schedules are indeed much more attractive to rats.  Results were presented at the AGRI conference, 2025 by my trainee, Madison Gal. This Spring, 2025, we started a new study to test another prediction of our model, that decreasing the speed of gambling will increase the attractiveness of a random schedule over a fixed schedule.  We have also branched out to study the effects of early-life stress on the attraction of gambling-like reward schedules, a project being pursued by my graduate student, Tara Laverty.

The other arm of our research tests the effect of random rewards in humans. In this experiment, subjects are asked to play on two side-by-side slot machine simulators.  One delivers reward on a random schedule, the other a fixed schedule (i.e., one payout every 20 spins).  Initially, we sought to test the effect of payout probability on the relative preference for the random-ratio schedule. Unfortunately, studies conducted in Fall 2023 showed that, unlike rats, humans did not show a preference for the random-reward slot machine!  Our goal from that time has been to demonstrate that humans do, in fact, prefer random schedules.  In Spring 2024 through Summer, we ran several dozen subjects in a dual-task version of the paradigm, where subjects were distracted by concurrently viewing engaging YouTube content.  Again, no effect of schedule was found.  This Fall (2024) and Winter (2025), my student Madison Gal has been running a much larger cohort (75 participants). The results, reported at the 2025 AGRI conference, show a slight preference for random schedules, but only in females! We next intend to replicate the study but with a more immediate monetary reward with the idea that enhanced motivation will increase task engagement and reveal a preference for random ratios. If not, we may need to rethink this fundamental tenet of gambling psychology.       

Our research aims to uncover basic mechanisms of gambling addiction, using both animal and human testing.  Most psychological theories suppose that the randomness of gambling rewards is a major factor their attractiveness. Hence, we have focused on the effects of that randomness on the brain. If our theoretical framework is validated, it will suggests new diagnostic criteria which may be helpful in predicting an individual’s on-going risk of gambling escalation. It may also predicts which aspects of a gambling game (e.g., speed of play, payout  ratio, reward distribution) contribute the most to the attraction of that activity, potentially allowing for the development of guidelines to reduce the propensity of gambling machines to cause addiction.

This past year’s findings, shared in preliminary form with the research community at the AGRI conference, 2024, show that the probability of reward can impact the attraction of gambling activities. Somewhat surprisingly, lower reward probabilities tend to favor random schedules, thus making gambling more attractive.  Findings like these, which we continue to investigate, help us understand how gambling activities interact with brains reward circuits. Such findings will eventually inform treatment models and perhaps even result in better pharmaceutical treatments for those suffering from gambling harms.

Le May, J.M., Dorchak, D.L., Gal, M., Hiebert, P., Goldhawk, C., Crawford, A., and Euston, D.R. (2024). Tick-Tock Jackpot: The Key Role of Delay in Gambling Reward Schedules. Poster presented at the Alberta Gambling Research Institute Annual Conference.  Banff, Alberta.  April 11-13, 2024.

Le May, J.M., Dorchak, D.L., Patel, D., Gal, M., and Euston, D.R. (2023). Sex Differences in Choice Impulsivity. Presented at the Alberta Gambling Research Institute Annual Conference. Banff, Alberta. March 31 – April 1, 2023.