Alcohol and Gambling: Does Drinking Change How You Bet?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In a laboratory experiment with 40 young male slot players, those given three alcoholic drinks persisted for twice as many trials, and 50% lost their entire stake versus 15% of the placebo group.

• A review of 20 experiments with 47 comparisons found no reliable overall effect of alcohol on risk-taking while gambling.

• Several studies point to larger bets after losses or faster loss of funds for drinkers, which may reflect loss chasing.

• Studies in real venues have found mixed or even opposite patterns, so results from the lab do not simply carry over.

• Making the low chance of winning visible reduced persistent gambling among intoxicated participants in experiments.

• Free, confidential help is available 24/7 through 1-800-MY-RESET.

CONTENTS

01A Drink With the Bet: Why the Question Matters

02What Experiments and Venue Studies Found

03A Hypothetical Night Out

04What’s Really Going On: Judgment, Mood and Expectation

05The Other Side: Where the Evidence Falls Short

06Common Misreadings About Drinking and Gambling

07Where to Read Next

A drink at the casino, the sportsbook lounge or a friend’s poker table feels like part of the night for many people, which makes one question worth asking: does it change how they gamble? The research gives a more tangled answer than either side might expect. In one early experiment with 40 young male slot players, those who first drank three alcoholic drinks kept playing for twice as many trials as the placebo group, and half of them lost their whole stake, compared with 15% of the placebo group. But a later review that pooled 20 experiments found no reliable overall effect of alcohol on risk-taking while gambling. This article walks through what experiments, surveys and venue studies report, what the mixed findings suggest, and what everyday gamblers learn from them. It uses one clearly labeled hypothetical scenario and offers no advice on how to win, because it is about the experience and the evidence.

A Drink With the Bet: Why the Question Matters

Alcohol and gambling share a lot of ground. Researchers writing in Psychopharmacology note that the two behaviors share commonalities at a phenomenological, clinical and neurobiological level, and that earlier studies have suggested alcohol can have a disinhibiting effect on gambling in terms of bet size and persistence. Venues often serve alcohol, and people who drink while gambling are common enough that scientists have studied the combination in laboratories, bars and casinos. The question is practical, not abstract: if a drink changes the way a person plays, then the plan made before the first drink may not survive the second.

The evidence, however, does not point one way. Some studies find that alcohol changes the way people bet, others find little or no effect and a few find that drinkers play less. Mixed evidence is the honest summary, and the sections below take each type of study in turn. A related look at how plans for spending hold up on the casino floor appears in how casino players handle budgets.

What Experiments and Venue Studies Found

Laboratory experiments that found an effect

In a 1999 experiment by Andrew Kyngdon and Mark Dickerson, 40 young male regular slot players were randomly given either three alcoholic drinks of about 10 grams of pure alcohol each or an equal volume of a non-alcoholic beverage before playing a simulated game. The alcohol group persisted for twice as many gaming trials, and 50% of them lost their entire starting stake, compared with 15% of the placebo group. A small amount of alcohol was linked to a large change in persistence. In another experiment with 130 participants playing a simulated slot machine, Jessica Cronce and William Corbin reported that alcohol was associated with larger average bets and a more rapid loss of all available funds, though they found no evidence of an effect on persistence.

A roulette-task experiment published in 2019 used male participants who received an alcoholic or a placebo drink and then chose red or black and set their bet size. Both groups showed familiar biases, such as switching colors after a run, and bet size rose during losing streaks. The difference was narrower: the alcohol group placed higher bets after losses than after wins. The authors suggested this may reflect increased loss chasing that could amplify gambling harms, and they noted that the results did not fit a simple pattern of enhanced gambling distortions. A look at the chasing impulse itself appears in why chasing losses is so hard to resist.

Experiments and surveys that found little or nothing

Not every experiment points the same way. A study of 184 participants who played a simulated slot machine, some told they had received alcohol and some actually ingesting low or moderate amounts, found no significant effects of alcohol expectancy or intake on the number of sessions, bet size, remaining credits or enjoyment. A systematic review and meta-analysis by Tori Horn and colleagues pooled 20 articles with 47 alcohol-versus-control comparisons and found an overall effect close to zero. The size of the effect depended on the comparison drink. Studies using non-alcoholic control drinks showed larger effects than those using placebo beverages, which the authors suggested may reflect expectancy: what people believe they have drunk may matter as much as the alcohol itself.

Real venues tell a more complicated story

Researchers who compared lab findings with real-world behavior found less consistency. In a mail survey of 7,044 responses in Australia’s Northern Territory, Francis Markham and colleagues found that the probability of playing electronic gaming machines decreased with alcohol consumption for non-problem gamblers, and moderate drinking was associated with shorter play on those machines. The authors cautioned that laboratory studies do not predict the drinking and gambling of the general population in everyday settings. In a Norwegian study using account records for 726 players, non-limit-reaching gamblers staked less money in alcohol-serving venues than in non-alcohol-serving venues but lost more. The same night out can mean less betting and bigger losses. Another survey of 1,557 players by George Stuart, Nerilee Hing and Alex Russell found that those who usually drank at the venue preferred higher-denomination machines, where money can be lost more rapidly.

A Hypothetical Night Out

Imagine a hypothetical visitor, call her Visitor B, who sets a small limit before heading out with friends to a venue that has machines in the corner. In this scenario she has one drink with dinner and another while the group waits for a table, and she drifts to the machines with a drink in hand. Early losses sting a little less than they would have on the drive over, and the limit she set earlier starts to feel negotiable. The change may not be the drink itself but the mood around it: relaxed, social and in no hurry. Nothing here describes a real person, and every detail is an example. The scenario shows the kind of in-the-moment shift the studies try to measure, not a result any study reported for a particular player.

Researchers have also tested whether a simple prompt can help. In three laboratory studies led by Greta Wagner, intoxicated participants who saw the low chance of winning displayed in large letters gambled less persistently on a slot machine and took less risk in a lottery game than intoxicated participants who did not. A fourth field study at a bar found a similar pattern: when low chances were made salient, patrons who had consumed more alcohol gambled less persistently. Making the odds visible changed what drinkers paid attention to. It is an experimental finding, not a guarantee, and it shows why the design of a game can matter as much as the drink.

What’s Really Going On: Judgment, Mood and Expectation

Researchers offer several explanations for why alcohol and gambling can interact. Alcohol is known to lower response inhibition and raise impulsivity, which the Stuart team cites as reasons to expect riskier play. The alcohol myopia idea in the Wagner studies holds that intoxicated people’s behavior is disproportionately guided by whatever cues are most salient. A drinker may react more to the thrill in front of them than to a plan made earlier. The Horn meta-analysis adds a different layer: expectancy effects, where believing you have had a drink changes behavior.

Another finding is that the effect may differ by person. In an experiment with 44 regular video lottery terminal players, Michael Ellery and colleagues reported that alcohol increased time spent playing and the rate of risky doubling bets, particularly among probable pathological gamblers. The sample was small, which is why researchers describe such results as pointers and not as laws. The pull of the game itself, not just the drink, shapes the evening, a theme explored in why it is so hard to leave a casino.

The Other Side: Where the Evidence Falls Short

It would be wrong to claim the research shows that drinking always makes people bet more. The 184-person slot study and the Horn meta-analysis found no reliable effect, and Markham’s survey found shorter play among moderate drinkers. Several of the experiments described here used young adults, small samples and simulated games, so they may not reflect a real evening with real money. Absence of a measured effect does not make drinking and gambling a safe mix. The researchers behind the roulette experiment noted that higher bets after losses may amplify gambling harms.

The practical lesson many researchers draw is about awareness, not rules for winning. If gambling is causing harm, the National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-MY-RESET, offers call, text and chat support 24/7. It is not an emergency line; in a crisis, call 911 or 988. Whether drinking changes a person’s play is partly a personal question, and the studies suggest it is worth noticing how a plan holds up once a drink is in hand.

Common Misreadings About Drinking and Gambling

The first misreading is that research has proven alcohol makes people bet more. The evidence is mixed: a 1999 experiment saw a large effect on persistence, while a 184-person study and a 20-article meta-analysis found no reliable effect. The honest summary is that results depend on the task, the sample and the setting.

The second is that a few drinks do nothing at all. In the Kyngdon and Dickerson experiment, three modest drinks were followed by twice as many trials and a much higher share of players losing their entire stake. Small amounts were linked to large differences in at least one experiment, though other studies did not replicate that.

The third is that lab findings describe real nights out. Markham’s survey of venue visits found patterns that did not match what laboratory studies would predict. Real venues add company, noise, machines and time pressure that a lab cannot reproduce.

Where to Read Next

If a plan made before the first drink is hard to keep, the same is true of beliefs about streaks and luck. For how those beliefs show up in real betting data, see what real betting data shows about the gambler’s fallacy. The common thread is that judgment under pressure is different from judgment in advance, whether the pressure comes from a drink, a losing streak or a crowd.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does alcohol make people gamble more?

The evidence is mixed. One early experiment found drinkers persisted twice as long, while a meta-analysis of 20 experiments found no reliable overall effect. Other studies found larger bets after losses or faster loss of funds, so results depend on the task and the setting.

Do people bet more after drinking?

Some experiments report larger average bets or higher bets after losses in drinkers, while a 184-person slot study found no effect on bet size. Venue studies show varied patterns, including shorter play among moderate drinkers in one large Australian survey of gambling venue visits.

Is gambling while drunk riskier?

Researchers have linked alcohol to higher bets after losses and faster loss of funds in some experiments, which may reflect loss chasing. Other studies found no effect, so the risk is not settled, but it is reasonable to notice how a limit holds up once drinking starts.

Why do casinos serve alcohol?

Research does not establish the reasons venues serve alcohol. Studies in alcohol-serving venues found more variable in-session play and, for some players, larger losses, but the researchers could not say whether the availability of alcohol or actual drinking explained those differences, so the question stays open.

Can making the odds visible help drinkers?

In three laboratory studies, intoxicated participants who saw the low chance of winning displayed prominently gambled less persistently or took less risk than those who did not. A field study at a bar found a similar pattern, though it is early evidence.

Where can someone get help with gambling problems?

The National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-MY-RESET, offers call, text and chat services 24/7 and connects people to local resources, which may include treatment options, counseling and financial counseling for gambling-related money problems. It is not an emergency line; in a crisis, call 911 or 988.