An Initial Investigation of Individual Rate-of-Play Preferences and Associations with EGM Gambling Behavior

electronic gambling machines (egms) show a strong association with gambling problems. the high speed of gaming offered by modern egms allows playing numerous games in a short span of time, which is thought to contribute to attentional distraction, increased spending and prolonged play. however, the relationship between egm speeds and potentially risk-related gambling behavior remains unclear. we introduce a novel approach to investigating the role of gaming speed in egm gambling behavior by examining ‘individual rate-of-play’ (i-rop) during simulated egm gambling. a community sample of male regular gamblers (n = 72) played virtual slot machines in pairs offering sequentially adjusted game speeds towards the estimation of a behaviorally expressed preference speed, or i-rop. this initial experiment aimed to explore the variability of i-rops during simulated egm gambling, and examine behavior while playing egms at speeds relative to their i-rop. estimated i-rops ranged from less than one half second to over seven seconds and were negatively associated with cognitive ability, but not related to problem gambling severity, impulsiveness, or gambling-related cognitions. subsequent gambling sessions on egms offering individually calibrated faster and slower gaming speeds were associated with greater and reduced risk-related gambling behaviors respectively. i-rops represent a potentially informative construct for exploring influences of gaming speed on gambling behavior, and may lend insight into potential risk-related behavior an individual vulnerability with respect to commercially available egms that warrants additional research.