The licensing effect in gambling choice: a daily diary study

People with gambling problems gamble despite resolutions to stop. These choices may be more likely in contexts that allow for them to be justified (e.g. after a productive day at work), termed the licensing effect. Using a daily diary design over 21 days (nparticipants = 156, nreports = 2,516), we recruited gamblers trying to reduce their gambling and assessed their daily justification opportunities (e.g. feelings of effort and achievement), gambling involvement (e.g. gambling episodes), and aspects of self-control (i.e. craving, conflict, craving suppression) and affect (positive and negative). We tested the degree to which justification opportunities, self-control, and affect predicted a prospective gambling episode, and the reverse temporal effect. Gambling occurred on 33% of the reported days. Prior-day justification opportunities were associated with higher odds of gambling. Prior-day craving suppression showed a similar effect. Prior-day gambling was associated with stronger cravings, weaker craving suppression, and poorer well-being (lower positive affect, higher negative affect). In our between-person analyses, days gambled and problem gambling severity were positively associated with negative affect; but, in our lagged analysis, prior-day negative affect was associated with lower odds of gambling. Our findings indicate that justification opportunities may precede gambling episodes, and therefore the licensing effect may contribute to why people sometimes gamble despite resolutions to stop.