Although it is often assumed that electronic gaming machines (EGMs) are associated with the highest level of risk, it has proved difficult to find reliable evidence in support of this proposition. In this paper, we analysed statistics from major Australian community prevalence studies for the period 2011–2020 to investigate whether EGMs (in comparison to racing and casino table games) have a stronger association with problem gambling. All prevalence studies reviewed used telephone sampling and the Problem Gambling Severity Index to assess problem gambling. In this paper, we examine the principal hypothesis using several lines of evidence, including whether problem gamblers are more likely to gamble and gamble regularly on EGMs as opposed to racing and casino games and if the EGM-problem gambling association was maintained after controlling for other forms of participation. Results showed that of all gambling activities, EGMs do appear to have the strongest association with problem gambling. Despite having a disproportionately higher level of participation on racing and casino games as compared with other gamblers, problem gamblers are more likely to report regular or weekly participation in EGM gambling and this may be the reason why this activity emerges most strongly as a predictor of problem gambling in multivariate models. This finding is particularly salient, given the very high prevalence of EGM participation, compared to other risky gambling forms. The findings underscore the importance of survey reporting that presents results in a form that can inform policy relevant research relating to the potential impact of different gambling activities.

中文翻译：

---

与赛车和赌场桌游戏相比，EGM在赌博问题上的联系更紧密吗？来自澳大利亚流行研究十年的证据

尽管通常认为电子游戏机（EGM）与最高风险相关，但事实证明很难找到可靠的证据来支持这一主张。在本文中，我们分析了2011年至2020年期间澳大利亚主要社区患病率研究的统计数据，以调查EGM（与赛车游戏和赌场赌桌游戏相比）是否与问题赌博有更强的联系。所有患病率研究均使用电话抽样和问题赌博严重性指数来评估问题赌博。在本文中，我们使用几条证据来检验主要假设，包括问题赌徒是否更有可能定期在EGM上赌博，而不是在赛车和赌场游戏中赌博，以及在控制其他形式的参与之后是否维持了EGM问题赌博协会。结果表明，在所有赌博活动中，EGM确实与问题赌博之间的联系最紧密。尽管与其他赌徒相比，赛车和赌场游戏的参与程度高得不成比例，但有问题的赌徒更有可能报告定期或每周参加EGM赌博，这可能是此活动最能成为问题预测因素的原因在多元模型中赌博。鉴于与其他高风险赌博形式相比，EGM参与率很高，因此这一发现尤其重要。