Gambling could get a new regulator: Light

New research from Flinders University brings new insight into what could be the next big gambling regulator. It’s not the government, nor is it another independent body, but lighting.

Flinders University, from Adelaide, South Australia, has published the research in Nature’s Scientific Reports journal, which digs into how the body’s reaction to light could stave off gambling addiction.

Within the study, researchers investigated the body’s “circadian photoreception” and whether or not adjusting the brightness of lights showed changed behaviours while gambling. By directly targeting a specific type of brightness that affects the body’s internal clock, they were able to get some interesting results.

Those exposed to blue-enriched light, which most machines will provide through screens, were “less sensitive to losses”. This indicated that they’d be more likely to go into a risky gambling move with their finances, rather than take the safer option.

Speaking in the press release, Dr. Alicia Lander from FHMRI Sleep Health said:

“This raises questions about the role of lighting in environments like casinos or online gambling platforms.

Typically, people have a strong tendency to avoid losses, often outweighing potential gains in their decision-making.

“However, under blue-enriched light, that stimulates non-visual circadian photoreceptors, they demonstrated a reduced sensitivity to financial losses that may influence gambling tendencies, potentially encouraging riskier behaviours.

“Under conditions where the lighting emitted less blue, people tended to feel a $100 loss much more strongly than a $100 gain — the loss just feels worse.

“But under bright, blue-heavy light such as that seen in casino machines, the $100 loss didn’t appear to feel as bad, so people were more willing to take the risk.

“Interestingly, we found that women displayed greater loss aversion than men, showing more reluctance to take risks under both light conditions.”

More research will likely need to be carried out in order to make a bigger case for the aforementioned results but these are interesting findings all the same.

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