The review describes school-based gambling prevention programs and notes that some interventions use multiple delivery methods, including quizzes, critical thinking activities, and team learning tasks. It also states that active engagement of participants throughout delivery is essential for effectiveness.

This intervention was implemented in secondary schools and used interactive classroom activities to challenge gambling myths. It targeted two key erroneous cognitions in particular: the gambler’s fallacy and the illusion of control.

This article reports that a school-based intervention produced a significant reduction in gambling-related cognitive distortions from pre-test to post-test in the training group. The study frames the intervention as targeting probabilistic reasoning errors and superstitious thinking among adolescents.

In their study, Ladouceur et al. (2004) examined an English translated **video-based educational program** to correct misconceptions and improve knowledge about gambling among adolescents.[1] The program is described as using a **20‑minute educational video** showing gambling situations to address erroneous beliefs such as illusion of control and misunderstandings of randomness and probabilities.[9] The intervention targeted secondary school students (Grade 7 and 8; N = 506) divided into treatment and control groups, with significant improvement in gambling knowledge and reduction in misconceptions reported in the treatment group.[1] No mention is made of separate interactive classroom activities beyond the structured video viewing and discussion format in these summaries.[1][9]

A later review of gambling research states that educational programmes in schools were designed to address gambling myths and that Ladouceur’s group helped establish this approach. It also notes that the gambler’s fallacy and the illusion of control are the two best-characterized sources of gamblers’ misperceptions.

A review of educational-based gambling prevention programs lists **Ladouceur et al. (2004)** as: "Examined an **English translated video-based educational program** to correct misconceptions and improve knowledge about gambling" with N = 506 Grade 7 and 8 students divided into treatment and control groups.[1] The review further notes that **Lavoie and Ladouceur (2004)** implemented a video-based program to modify attitudes and improve knowledge on gambling misconceptions, cognitive errors and illusion of control, using conditions of Discussion + Video, Video-only, and Control.[1] In these school-based programs, the primary modality is video with discussion; the table and narrative do not describe separate interactive classroom activities such as games or role‑plays, though they do emphasize correcting erroneous cognitions including illusion of control and other misconceptions.[1]

The study by Ladouceur et al. (2004) titled "Gambling: the hidden addiction" is a guest editorial that reviews cognitive errors such as the illusion of control and erroneous beliefs about randomness, which include nonrecognition of independence of turns and superstitions.[1] It classifies errors in thinking fostering the tendency to predict the game’s outcome into three categories: nonrecognition of independence of turns, illusions of control, and superstitions.[1] This 2004 paper focuses on cognitive factors in the understanding and treatment of individuals who gamble, but the available excerpt does not describe an intervention using interactive classroom activities with secondary school students.[1]

The paper states that the intervention aimed to reduce gambling-related cognitive distortions by acting on probabilistic reasoning errors and superstitious thinking. It also reports a significant Time x Group interaction, with reduced cognitive distortions in the training group.

A university thesis discussing cognitive distortions in gambling summarizes the work of Ladouceur’s group: "The work of the group of Ladouceur (Ladouceur, 2004; Ladouceur, Paquet, & Dube, 1996) with different types of gambling (flipping a coin, slot machines, roulette) indicated that the percentages of irrational thoughts in gambling surpass the rational thoughts, especially when gambling at slot machines."[8] It also notes that Savoie & Ladouceur (1995) underlined the gambler's fallacy or self-correcting randomness and that later work highlights illusion of control and gambler’s fallacy as particularly relevant distortions.[8] However, this document attributes Ladouceur (2004) to work with different gambling tasks, not to an educational classroom program with secondary school students.[8]

The authors describe how Robert Ladouceur and colleagues used interactive, think-aloud and educational approaches in gambling research, helping lay the groundwork for later prevention programmes focused on gambling myths and cognitive restructuring.

The report notes that adolescent gambling prevention programs often target erroneous perceptions about gambling, including gambling fallacies, randomness, and the illusion of control. It also says that education-only programs commonly include cognitive distortions and gambling fallacies.

Pathological gambling has often been linked to distorted cognitions, including the illusion of control. In an experiment, gamblers showed a significantly stronger illusion of control than controls, supporting the relevance of this bias to gambling interventions.

A later high-school gambling prevention program (not Ladouceur 2004) illustrates what is meant by **interactive classroom activities** used to correct cognitive distortions.[2] The program used "quizzes," "interactive methods such as live discussions, and real-life situations in which students could practice newly learned skills" to engage students.[2] In Session 2 on "Cognitive distortions and gambling-related misconceptions," students participated in a **roulette-based classroom activity**: one student repeatedly spun roulette while teams made bets, followed by a discussion explaining that outcomes are **independent random events** and cannot be predicted from previous plays.[2] This demonstrates a type of interactive activity explicitly designed to address the gambler’s fallacy, but it is from a different intervention, not Ladouceur et al. (2004).[2]

A paper in Frontiers in Psychology explains that the gambler’s fallacy "generally refers to the misconception that the probability of occurrence of an event or outcome is influenced by a previous, or series of previous, events" and describes it as a powerful and seductive illusion of control over uncontrollable events.[5] It further notes that the gambler’s fallacy and illusion of control are considered important determinants of decision-making in gambling behavior.[5] This source provides definitions and context for the cognitive distortions named in the claim but does not describe the specific methods of Ladouceur et al. (2004).[5]

The review explains that educational prevention programs present information on the nature of gambling, gaming odds, probability, erroneous cognitions, and gambling fallacies. It also mentions that these programs may aim to modify knowledge and skills such as understanding random chance.

The McGill University youth gambling prevention materials, developed by Ladouceur and colleagues, include **interactive CD‑ROM games** targeting Grades 4–6 and high school students.[3] For elementary students, "Through a variety of fun activities, children learn how to distinguish between games of chance and games of skill" and change attitudes and cognition regarding gambling.[3] For high school students, an interactive game aims "to enable adolescents to make responsible choices by informing them about the nature and the risks associated with gambling, reinforcing social skills, and changing their attitudes and erroneous beliefs related to gambling."[3] These tools show Ladouceur’s use of interactive formats to address erroneous gambling cognitions, but they are described as CD‑ROM games rather than the specific classroom activities in the 2004 study design.[3]

A 2023 article reviewing gambling fallacies notes that disordered gambling is associated with irrational beliefs such as the illusion of control and gambler’s fallacy, citing Ladouceur & Walker (1996) among foundational work.[7] It defines "The Monte-Carlo fallacy (gambler’s fallacy)" as the mistaken belief that future outcomes will ‘even out’ past random outcome streaks and "The illusion of control" as the belief that actions can influence outcomes in random gambling outcomes.[7] The article mentions that gambling fallacies can be observed via “think aloud” protocols as people gamble (Ladouceur et al., 1988), and measured via self-report questionnaires, but does not reference a 2004 secondary-school classroom intervention by Ladouceur.[7]

Macdonald et al. (2004) describe a school-based problem gambling prevention curriculum that is not Ladouceur’s but similarly uses **group activities and an interactive CD‑ROM**.[4] The curriculum includes "six lessons and a summary lesson complete with group activities, handouts, resource text, overheads, an interactive CD-ROM" as instructional tools.[4] To address faulty cognitions, the authors note: "Self-monitoring is one way to check faulty cognitions typically associated with problem gambling (e.g. believing that gambling is a viable source of income)," and they used **live short plays** about gambling problems followed by student suggestions and enactment of alternative scenarios illustrating better coping or self-monitoring strategies.[4] This provides an example of interactive classroom activities aimed at correcting erroneous gambling beliefs, but from a different research group.[4]

A paper on erroneous gambling-related beliefs indicates that different classification systems for such beliefs consistently allude to 'illusion of control' and 'gambler's fallacy' as core distortions.[9] It positions these biases within broader models of gambling cognition, but the available description does not detail Ladouceur et al. (2004) implementing interactive classroom activities among secondary school students.[9]

The paper discusses outcome-sequence effects and perceived control in online gambling and explicitly cites Ladouceur and Sévigny (2005) as showing that adding a stopping device increased perceived control in gamblers and behavioral persistence.

St‑Pierre et al. review school-based gambling prevention programs and note that only a limited number have been empirically evaluated, including those by **Ladouceur, Goulet, & Vitaro** and later replications.[8] They report that "many have reliably obtained **improvements in knowledge or decreases in misconceptions about gambling** (Ladouceur et al., 2013; St‑Pierre, Temcheff, et al., 2015)."[8] The paper describes that some interventions used "mock gambling activity, group discussion, [and] interactive lecture" to promote changes in gambling-related beliefs and behaviours.[8] These interactive strategies are attributed generally to Turner and Macdonald’s initiatives rather than specifically to Ladouceur et al. (2004), but they show the type of methods employed in the broader evidence base on adolescent gambling cognition change.[8]

The paper identifies the gambler’s fallacy and illusion of control as the two best-known gambling-related cognitive distortions and cites Ladouceur et al. (2004) among the foundational references for these concepts in gambling research.

Guidance for schools from the National Association of School Psychologists summarizes effective gambling prevention models drawing on Ladouceur and other research.[7] It states that such models should include: "Discussions to help change faulty beliefs concerning the role of skill and luck and the **illusion of control** during gambling" and "Demonstrations and **hands-on exercises** to gain an understanding of statistical probability and superstition."[7] These recommended classroom discussions and hands-on exercises are presented as interactive activities to correct erroneous gambling cognitions such as illusion of control and gambler’s fallacy, but they are not tied to the specific protocol of Ladouceur et al. (2004).[7]

An encyclopedia-style entry explains that the "illusion of control" is a cognitive bias where "people expect to affect uncontrollable events" and their belief in personal influence is inappropriate.[6] It notes that this illusion has been extensively studied in gambling contexts following Langer (1975).[6] While relevant to the concepts mentioned in the claim, this source does not address Ladouceur et al. (2004) or educational interventions in schools.[6]

The document describes irrational cognitions in gambling as reflecting beliefs that gambling outcomes can be predicted and controlled, consistent with the cognitive targets addressed in school-based interventions.

Students who receive the intervention will show a decrease in problematic gambling behavior at the 6-month follow-up compared to before taking the course and compared to students who did not receive the intervention.

Gambling fallacies are believed to be etiologically related to the development of problem gambling.