Like sport, the gambler does not give up if he loses, but keeps trying. However, although the gambler both wins and loses, the swings and dips of play conceal an overall downhill trend where the gambler ends up paying more and more. Conditioning, winning runs, the hope of a debt-clearing series of winning runs and an unwillingness to give up draws the gambler deeper and deeper through a losing stage to a state of desperation. The principal way in which the module is designed to avoid problem gambling behaviour is, put very simply, by suppressing the feedback which leads to problem gambling. The draw of gambling which involves random positive and negative feedback dovetails with the faculty of the human mind to accept temporary negative feedback in the hope of later success.
Problem gamblers change negative feedback into a sort of positive feedback.
Every loss increases the expectation of a win. KTO's education about the mathematics of the commercial gambling industry and the fact that the more often gamblers bet, the more certain they are to end up paying, puts individual bets into perspective and suppresses the fascination that can develop when the gambler simply looks at each individual bet in isolation. Not only does KTO teach the mathematics of gambling on an intellectual plane but, by having the participants carry out computer exercises, they experience that the more a gambler gambles, the more certain the gambler is to pay for the services provided by the gambling operator. The relationship module is designed to give students information upon which they can take action. The address, which includes overheads and computer programs, explains the nature of gambling and the mental process by which problem gambling takes hold.