Skilled poker players provide more accurate responses than amateur poker players to the Gambling Fallacies Measure

Abstract

Gambling fallacies are mistaken beliefs about how gambling works, and these form a key part of current theorising about disordered gambling. However, it has been suggested that key self-report scales for gambling fallacies may contain items that are inappropriate for skill-based gambling games. This research explores this topic by comparing amateur and skilled poker players’ responses to the Gambling Fallacies Measure (GFM). Skilled players provided an average of 8.97 out of 10 accurate responses, which was significantly higher than amateurs’ average score of 6.76. Item five (“A positive attitude or doing good deeds increases your likelihood of winning money when gambling”) was the only item where skilled players (87.9%) were not significantly more accurate than amateurs (87.1%). Future research along these lines could increase understanding of the rational cognitions underlying skilled poker play.