DOES PARETO RULE INTERNET GAMBLING? PROBLEMS AMONG THE “VITAL FEW” & “TRIVIAL MANY”

Main Article Content

Matthew A. Tom
Debi A. LaPlante
Howard J. Shaffer

Abstract

Using records of Internet gambling subscribers (n = 1,384), this study tested the Pareto principle: about 20% of customers, “the vital few,” are responsible for about 80% of the activity, while 80%, “the trivial many,” are responsible for the remaining 20%. Participants completed the Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen (BBGS) and had a history of betting on sports and/or online casino games during the twelve months before completing the screen. Using various measures, the vital few Internet gamblers ranged between 4.6% and 17.8% of the subscribers – smaller than the Pareto principle would suggest. Between 38% and 67% of the vital few and between 24% and 35% of the trivial many screened positive for gambling-related problems. This research suggests that the concepts of the “vital few” and the “trivial many” apply to Internet gambling.

Article Details

Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Matthew A. Tom, Cambridge Health Alliance, Division on Addiction

Division on Addiction, Research Data Analyst

Debi A. LaPlante, Cambridge Health Alliance, Division on Addiction

Division on Addiction, Director of Research

Howard J. Shaffer, Cambridge Health Alliance, Division on Addiction

Division on Addiction, Director

References

Adami, Nicola, Benini, Sergio, Boschetti, Alberto, Canini, Luca, Maione, Florinda, & Temporin, Matteo. (2013). Markers of unsustainable gambling for early detection of at-risk online gamblers. International Gambling Studies, 1-17. doi: 10.1080/14459795.2012.754919

Arthur, Charles. (2006, 2006-07-19). What is the 1% rule?, The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jul/20/guardianweeklytechnologysection2

Auer, M. , & Griffiths, M. D. (2012). Voluntary limit setting and player choice in most intense online gamblers: An empirical study of gambling behaviour. Journal of Gambling Studies, Published online: 5 September 2012.

Ballmer, Steve (2002, 2002/10/02/). [Connecting with Customers].

Bernhard, Bo J., & Philander, Kahlil S. (2012). Informing the Public Debate: Problem Gambling: Exposure, Adaptation, and Gaming Revenues. Las Vegas, NV: UNLV International Gaming Institute.

Braverman, Julia, LaPlante, Debi A, Nelson, Sarah E, & Shaffer, Howard J. (in press). Using cross-game behavioral markers for early identification of high-risk Internet gamblers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.

Braverman, Julia, & Shaffer, Howard J. (2012). How do gamblers start gambling: identifying behavioral markers for high-risk Internet gambling. European Journal of Public Health, 22(2), 273-278.

Brosowski, Tim, Meyer, Gerhard, & Hayer, Tobias. (2012). Analyses of multiple types of online gambling within one provider: an extended evaluation framework of actual online gambling behaviour. International Gambling Studies, 12(3), 405-419. doi: 10.1080/14459795.2012.698295

Clauset, Aaron, Shalizi, Cosma Rohilla, & Newman, M. E. J. (2009). Power-Law Distributions in Empirical Data. SIAM Review, 51(4), 661-703. doi: 10.1137/070710111

Clotfelter, Charles T., & Cook, Philip J. (1990). On the economics of state lotteries. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4(4), 105-110.

Doughney, James. (2007). Lies, Damned Lies and 'Problem Gambling' Prevalence Rates: The Example of Victoria, Australia. Journal of Business Systems, Governance and Ethics, 2(1), 41-54

.

Dragicevic, Simo, Tsogas, George, & Kudic, Aleksandar. (2011). Analysis of casino online gambling data in relation to behavioural risk markers for high-risk gambling and player protection. International Gambling Studies, 11(3), 377-391. doi: 10.1080/14459795.2011.629204

Efron, Bradley. (1990). More Efficient Bootstrap Computations. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 85(409), 79-89. doi: 10.1080/01621459.1990.10475309

Elias Sports Bureau. (2012). 2012 MLB Team Batting Stats - Major League Baseball - ESPN. Retrieved 2013/02/19/03:30:08, from http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/batting/year/2012/seasontype/2

Fiedler, Ingo. (2012). The gambling habits of online poker players. The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, 6(1), 1-24.

Focal Research. (1998). 1997/98 Nova Scotia Video Lottery Players' Survey: Nova Scotia Department Of Health.

Gainsbury, Sally, Sadeque, Saalem, Mizerski, Dick, & Blaszczynski, Alex. (2012). Wagering in Australia: A retrospective behavioural analysis of betting patterns based on player account data. The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics, 6(2), 50-68.

Gainsbury, Sally, Wood, Robert, Russell, Alex, Hing, Nerilee, & Blaszczynski, Alex. (2012). A digital revolution: Comparison of demographic profiles, attitudes and gambling behavior of Internet and non-Internet gamblers. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(4), 1388-1398. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.02.024

Gebauer, L., LaBrie, R., & Shaffer, H. J. (2010). Optimizing DSM-IV-TR classification accuracy: a brief biosocial screen for detecting current gambling disorders among gamblers in the general household population. Can J Psychiatry, 55(2), 82-90.

Horowitz, Bradley. (2006, 2013/05/02/). Creators, Synthesizers, and Consumers. Elatable. from http://blog.elatable.com/2006/02/creators-synthesizers-and-consumers.html

Institute of Medicine. (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century: The National Academies Press.

Juran, Joseph M. (1975). The non-Pareto principle; mea culpa. Quality Progress, 8(5), 8-9.

LaBrie, Richard A., Kaplan, Sara A., LaPlante, Debi A., Nelson, Sarah E., & Shaffer, Howard J. (2008). Inside the virtual casino: a prospective longitudinal study of actual Internet casino gambling. European Journal of Public Health, 18(4), 410-416.

LaBrie, Richard A., LaPlante, Debi A., Nelson, Sarah E., Schumann, Anja, & Shaffer, Howard J. (2007). Assessing the Playing Field: A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Internet Sports Gambling Behavior. Journal of Gambling Studies, 23(3), 347-362. doi: 10.1007/s10899-007-9067-3

LaPlante, Debi A., Kleschinsky, John H., LaBrie, Richard A., Nelson, Sarah E., & Shaffer, Howard J. (2009). Sitting at the virtual poker table: A prospective epidemiological study of actual Internet poker gambling behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(3), 711-717. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.027

LaPlante, Debi A., Nelson, Sarah E, LaBrie, Richard A, & Shaffer, Howard J. (2011). Disordered Gambling, Type of Gambling, and Gambling Involvement in the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007. European Journal of Public Health, 21(4), 532-537.

LaPlante, Debi A., Schumann, A., Labrie, R. A., & Shaffer, H. J. (2008). Population trends in Internet Sports Gambling. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 2399-2414.

McGee, Matt. (2012, 2012/11/21/). Ghost Town? Study Says 70 Percent Of Facebook Pages Are Inactive. Retrieved from http://marketingland.com/ghost-town-study-says-70-percent-of-facebook-pages-are-inactive-27091

Mizuno, Takayuki, Toriyama, Masahiro, Terano, Takao, & Takayasu, Misako. (2008). Pareto law of the expenditure of a person in convenience stores. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 387(15), 3931-3935. doi: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.01.059

Neelamraju, Krishna. (2012, 2012/11/21/). Facebook Pages: Usage Patterns. Retrieved from http://blog.recommend.ly/facebook-pages-usage-patterns/

Orford, Jim, Wardle, Heather, & Griffiths, Mark. (2012). What proportion of gambling is problem gambling? Estimates from the 2010 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. International Gambling Studies, 1-15. doi: 10.1080/14459795.2012.689001

Papadimitriou, Spiros, Kitagawa, Hiroyuki, Gibbons, Phillip B., & Faloutsos, Christos. (2003, 2003/03/05/). Loci: Fast outlier detection using the local correlation integral.

Pareto, Vilfredo. (1896). La Courbe de la Repartition de la Richesse, Ecrits sur la Corbe de la Repartition de la Richesse. Oevres Completes de Vilfredo Pareto, 3, 1-15.

Peoples, Glenn. (2006). Business Matters: Spotify, Deezer Inactive Accounts Are Just Part of Doing Business. Billboard. Retrieved 2013/04/17/17:03:09, from http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/1554924/business-matters-spotify-deezer-inactive-accounts-are

Rejaie, Reza, Torkjazi, Mojtaba, Valafar, Masoud, & Willinger, Walter. (2010). Sizing Up Online Social Networks. IEEE Network, 25(4), 32-37. doi: 10.1109/MNET.2010.5578916

Rhodes, William, Layne, Mary, Johnston, Patrick, & Hozik, Lynne. (1995). What America's users spend on illegal drugs, 1988-1993. Washington, DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Rooney, Paula. (2002). Microsoft's CEO: 80-20 Rule Applies To Bugs, Not Just Features. CRN. Retrieved 2013/02/15/21:03:52, from http://www.crn.com/news/security/18821726/microsofts-ceo-80-20-rule-applies-to-bugs-not-just-features.htm

Schwarz, Norbert. (1999). Self-reports: how the questions shape the answers. American Psychologist, 54(2), 93-105.

Shaffer, Howard J., LaBrie, Richard A., LaPlante, Debi A., Nelson, Sarah E., & Stanton, Michael V. (2004). The road less traveled: moving from distribution to determinants in the study of gambling epidemiology. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49(8), 504-516.

Sports Reference LLC. (2012). 2012 Major League Baseball Standard Batting. Retrieved 2013/02/15/21:08:41, from http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2012-standard-batting.shtml

Tremayne, Kell, Masterman-Smith, Helen, & McMillen, Jan. (2011). Survey of the Nature and Extent of Gambling and Problem Gambling in the ACT. Australian Institute for Gambling Research: The ACT Gambling and Racing Commission.

Volberg, Rachel A., Gerstein, Dean R., Christiansen, Eugene M., & Baldridge, John. (2001). Assessing self-reported expenditures on gambling. Managerial and Decision Economics, 22(1-3), 77-96. doi: 10.1002/mde.999

Williams, Robert J., & Wood, Robert T. (2004a). Final Report: The Demographic Sources of Ontario Gaming Revenue: Ontario Problem Gaming Research Centre.

Williams, Robert J., & Wood, Robert T. (2004b). The proportion of gaming revenue derived from problem gamblers: examining the issues in a Canadian context. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 4(1), 33-45.

Xuan, Ziming, & Shaffer, Howard. (2009). How Do Gamblers End Gambling: Longitudinal Analysis of Internet Gambling Behaviors Prior to Account Closure Due to Gambling Related Problems. Journal of Gambling Studies, 25(2), 239-252. doi: 10.1007/s10899-009-9118-z