Exploring Tolerance in Gaming and Gambling: A Comparative Analysis of Behavioral and Psychological Mechanisms

This paper compares how tolerance, a core construct in addiction research, operates in gambling and in gaming. In gambling, tolerance typically appears as escalating stakes or betting frequency to sustain emotional arousal, a pattern linked to neurobiological adaptation and to cognitive beliefs about winning or recouping losses. In Internet Gaming Disorder, as framed by the DSM-5, tolerance instead appears as an increasing amount of time spent playing to maintain gratification, driven by social connection, immersion, goal achievement, and flow rather than financial risk or physiological craving. The authors argue that this distinction matters because the convergence of gaming and gambling, through esports betting, loot boxes, and microtransactions, has tempted researchers and clinicians to apply gambling-derived criteria to gaming behaviour.

The paper identifies several practical risks in that misapplication. Equating gaming with gambling may oversimplify problematic gaming, which is typically driven by non-monetary rewards and prolonged engagement, and may produce interventions aimed at financial behaviours that are irrelevant to gaming-related harm. It may also obscure the diversity of gaming motivations, from competitive play to social connection, and lead to incorrect diagnoses. Labelling players as "addicted" on the basis of gambling-derived criteria may further erode trust in support systems and discourage help-seeking. The authors conclude that diagnostic frameworks should reflect the distinct characteristics of gaming, and that a more nuanced account of gaming tolerance can improve theoretical models, clinical practice, and efforts to reduce stigma.

The work is primarily a conceptual and comparative analysis drawing on published diagnostic criteria and prior empirical literature, rather than presenting original survey or experimental data. Its scope is therefore theoretical, with its evidence base consisting of cited studies on gambling and gaming behaviour, including longitudinal population research from Finland. The paper was presented as an extended abstract at DiGRA 2025 and was supported by Finnish research funding.