Researchers take their shots at explaining gamblers’ behavior at Las Vegas gathering

Saturday, May 27, 2023 7:47 PM
  • Mike Seely, Sports Handle

It’s not a proper Wednesday morning on the Las Vegas Strip until the trays of shots come out.

This held true this week at UNLV’s 18th International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking, only the shot glasses were filled with non-alcoholic smoothies containing spinach, kale, apples, and pears.

Booze, however, was a focal point of a presentation by University of Memphis grad student Tori Horn titled “Alcohol Consumption While Gambling: New Evidence Within a Responsible Gambling Framework.” Working with a sample group of 769 weekly gamblers, 70% of whom said they’d gambled under the influence of alcohol, Horn found that there was a “high likelihood that people who report gambling problems might also be at risk for a drinking problem.”