Why don’t women bet on sports 2: new science sticks its oar in

I previously asked why sports betting is much more popular with men than women. Some very cutting edge science might offer some new explanations.

The reward pathways in the brain play a critical role in reinforcing behaviours by strengthening connections between various brain regions. One recent study, focusing on the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens, suggests women and men actually use different molecular mechanisms for reward signalling here.

This is potentially significant. The hippocampus is our memory centre. The nucleus accumbens processes impulsivity and fear. In men, the connections between these two brain areas are strengthened via NMDA receptors. In women, NMDA receptors are ignored and the pathways are strengthened via a calcium-estrogen interaction. In both cases, the neurotransmitters involved will interact with other neurotransmitters (such as dopamine).

We should be careful to avoid concluding that ‘more’ of any particular neurotransmitter is having an effect here. We are all aware that different levels of sex hormones in the endocrine system precipitate profound changes in the human body (eg. puberty has pretty different effects on men and women!) but that doesn’t appear to be what the study authors have found here.

To emphasise: this isn’t the same mechanisms being affected differently in men and women due to the presence of more or less of a sex hormone.

It’s the specific pathway being strengthened (or weakened) by a different mechanism. Which suggests that it might be the case that certain behaviours are more or less likely to be encoded and strengthened depending on whether you’re a male or a female.

Could the brains of men and women be hardwired to seek different levels of risk and reward?

As we know, addiction is a broad spectrum, mediated by our prehistoric drives. A great example of this is compulsive eating. We’re all hardwired to love fat and sugar, because they are calorie dense (to keep us alive) and historically good sources were rare or hard to obtain (eg. defended by bees or attached to large, aggressive animals). And we know that the modern world allows us unprecedented access to indulge these desires (eg. two-for-one kebabs). If a different mechanism encodes reward pathways in men and women as they relate to the connection between memory, impulsivity and fear, might males and females be hardwired to learn from risk and reward differently?

Could there be a mechanism in the brain that is fatalistic? That causes us to seek risk? From an evolutionary perspective, such a mechanism would probably kill quite a lot of us. But the ones it didn’t kill might have survived due to greater strength or smarts. With honey now extracted from bees or a few nice bear steaks ready for the barbecue, these individuals, assuming they were male, might suddenly become quite popular with the opposite sex. You can see why evolution might favour such a mechanism. But is there any evidence for this being the case?

It’s tough to say. But the facts on gambling addiction by gender do paint some pretty stark gender differences, for whatever reason.

Men v Women

Studies consistently show that men are more likely to develop gambling addictions than women. Men outnumber women by approximately 2 to 1 among individuals with gambling addictions (AddictionHelp.com)​​ (Quit Gamble)​.

Research indicates that 4.2% of men are problem gamblers compared to 2.9% of women (AddictionHelp.com).​​

Young men, particularly those in their early 20s, are the fastest-growing group of gamblers and show higher rates of gambling problems compared to their female counterparts. Among university students, 14% of men and 3% of women gamble at problematic levels (AddictionHelp.com) (Gambling Commission).

We know men prefer more competitive gambling activities (sports betting, poker) and women prefer more chance-based ones, such as lotteries or bingo. Traditionally it’s been thought that these alternatives were less addictive. But maybe they aren’t. Maybe the way in which women’s brains encode reward and risk makes them less susceptible to encoding and repeating behaviours which spark activity in our fear and impulsivity centres. And less susceptible to the lure of competitive behaviours in the first place.

While cultural influences affect these to some extent, it’s possible that there is a biological basis for some of the differences we see between genders in the kind of gambling activities they enjoy, and the likelihood of problematic behaviours developing.

More about the effect of brain-derived estrogen here. 

While it’s difficult to draw hard conclusions here, it would be interesting (and probably quite unethical!) to test whether male and female cohorts saw different effects on the reward pathways from regular competitive gambling experiences. It might be the case that without the ‘emotional’ encoding males experience, women are better able to make rational decisions about risk and reward and gamble more safely. By contrast, it may also be the case that a lessened sense of engagement with the activity, due to the different biological mechanism, simply means that women are much less likely to develop the strong interest necessary to play regularly.

In any case, some food for thought. I would love to hear your thoughts.