ABSTRACT
Gambling, or behavior involving risk of some valued commodity on the outcome of a game or event with a chance outcome, is a ubiquitous leisure activity. Gambling necessarily involves interactions of the environment and the gambler, and thus a study of contextual factors and how the individual responds under gambling conditions is germane to a comprehensive analysis of the disorder. Cognitive theories of gambling assume a flawed set of beliefs, such as that gambling can be profitable or that one has a particular edge over a casino that will allow one to win in the long run. Pathological gambling has been found to be heritable; approximately 50% of the variance in the etiology may be genetic in nature, with increasingly large genetic contributions with increasing problem-gambling severity. Pathological gambling, termed gambling disorder in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5, is a condition that can have a significant negative impact on individuals and those close to them.
