School Name: Silver High School

Area of Science: Physiology, Probability and Statistics

Project Title: Gambling Addiction related to Personality

Problem Definition:

Pathological Gambling is defined as the persistent and recurrent inadequate adaptation of gambling behavior that interferes with personal, family, or recreational pursuits. Addiction can be defined as an inability to stop or control the addiction resulting in denial, depression, and mood swings. A dependent gambler is someone who can not control their addiction to gambling. Unlike dependencies on chemicals, pathological gambling is a hidden disease. The point of this project is to bring gambling addiction out in the open.

The hypothesis in this project is that optimistic personalities are more likely to become addicted gamblers than pessimistic. With this project, we hope to make young people more aware of their risk of becoming a pathological gambler. If a young person realizes the risk of becoming addicted to gambling, then precautions such as setting a limit on money spent gambling can be taken.

Problem Solution:

To solve this problem, two questionnaires were adopted. The questionnaires were designed to identify a person’s personality (optimistic, pessimistic or realistic). Three gambling programs were then written in C++ to simulate the casino games Blackjack, roulette, and slots. The questionnaires will be handed out to students attending Silver High School. The students will then follow the two questionnaires by playing the programs to flag the performance of each personality (optimistic, pessimistic, and realistic). The data from the three gambling programs and two questioners will then be plugged into a fourth program written in C++. The purpose of this program will be to identify the users personality based on their performance during play (performance on the three gambling programs). It will also predict your probability of becoming an addicted gambler.

Progress to Date:

The progress on this project so far is as follows. The three gambling programs have been written and finished save for a few errors. The fourth program has not been started on yet. The rough draft of the paper is done. It includes the rough drafts of the Title Page, Table of Contents, Acknowledgements, Introduction, and the Project Proposal. The rough draft of the Power Point is done as well. Seventeen students have been given the questionnaire but have not yet played the programs due to the fact that they are incomplete.

Expected Results:

The anticipated results of this project are the decline in the amount of addicted gamblers. My partner and I are not opposed to sensible gambling at all, but the number of dependent gamblers has been too high for too long. The idea that this project is based on is that if you stop the threat before it develops into a problem, then you do not have a problem to worry about

Citations:

1. Disorder Information Sheet. Phychnet-UK. 11/10/04 .

2. Gambling in the United States. Study World. 11/23/04 .

3. History of Gambling in the United States. 11/22/04 .

4. Skiena, Steven. Calculated Bets. Cambridge: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 2001.

5. Zehr, Rick. Pathological gambling: An addiction embracing the nation. Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery. 11/23/04 Zehr, Rick. Treatment and counseling for compulsive gamblers. French Spot. 11/23/04 .

Team Members:

Benjamin Fox

Kyle Youngs