T F 1) Knowledge of math can help you to win at lotteries.
T F 2) Staying at the same slot machines improves your chances of winning.
T F 3) It is possible to get an A on a test by guessing.
T F 4) Betting the same numbers for every lottery draw will not help you win.
T F 5) If you lose several times in a row you are most likely to win if you keep playing
T F 6) If you win three times in a row while gambling‚ you are less likely to win again if you keep playing.
T F 7) If you buy a 649 lottery ticket every day‚ you would most likely win the jackpot within the next 40 years.
T F 8) If you have lost at several games in a row‚ your likelihood of winning or losing does not change.
T F 9) A random looking number (e.g.‚ 12 – 5 – 23 – 7 – 19 – 34) is more likely to win than a number that has a sequence in it (e.g.‚ 1- 2- 3- 4 – 5 – 6).
T F 10) The likelihood of winning does not increase if you bet on numbers that come up very often.
T F 11) If numbers are drawn randomly‚ repeated numbers often occur.
T F 12) If a student gets perfect on a test they are most likely to get a lower mark on the next test.
T F 13) If every 649 draw for the past year had 2 numbers between 31 and 39‚ it would probably indicate that the lottery numbers weren’t truly random.
T F 14) It would be foolish to bet on the number 18 if 18 had come up recently.
T F 15) If you flip a coin 5 times and you get heads 5 times in a row‚ you are most likely to get tails if you flip the coin again.
T F 16) If you flip a coin thousands of times‚ on average‚ you’ll get same number of heads and tails.
T F 17) Suppose you flip a coin and get 10 heads in a row. If you keep flipping the coin‚ you will eventually get exactly the same number of heads and tails.
T F 18) You have a better chance of becoming rich by gambling than by running a business.
T F 19) A longer test gives a more accurate measure of a student’s ability than a short test.
T F 20) Looking for a slot machine that has not paid out in a while will help you win.
T F 21) You cannot predict the winning numbers in a lottery by studying past winning numbers.
T F 22) In a lottery‚ all numbers have the same chance of winning.
This instrument can be found on page 37 of Life Skills‚ Mathematical Reasoning and Critical Thinking: Curriculum for the Prevention of Problem Gambling. Available online at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18095146
T= true/ F= false
Turner‚ N.E. & Liu‚ E. (1999‚ Aug). The naïve human concept of random events. Paper presented at the 1999 conference of the American Psychological Association‚ Boston.
Macdonald‚ J.& Turner‚ N.E. (2000‚ Oct) The prevention of problem gambling using education‚ modeling and drama. Paper presented at the conference of the National Council on Problem Gambling‚ Pennsylvanian‚ Oct.
Macdonald‚ J.& Turner‚ N.E. (2001‚ April). The development and testing of an experimental approach to preventing problem gambling. Paper presented at the 2001b‚ conference of the Canadian Foundation on Compulsive Gambling.
Macdonald‚ J. & Turner‚ N.E. (2002‚ Oct). The prevention of problem gambling using education‚ modeling and drama. Paper presented to the 14th National Conference on Problem Gambling. Philadelphia‚ PA.
Turner‚ N.‚ Littman-Sharp‚ N.‚ Zengeneh‚ M. & Spence‚ W. (2002). Winners: Why do some develop gambling problems while others do not? Available at www.gamblingresearch.org
Macdonald. John‚ Turner. Nigel‚ Somerset. Matthew. (2008). Life Skills‚ Mathematical Reasoning and Critical Thinking: Curriculum for the Prevention of Problem Gambling. Final Report to the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
