Last week, an email was sent to out to the political science undergraduates mail list offering some students the chance to participate in a study -- so far, not an unusual situation. What makes this study stand out is that it's giving students a chance to engage in two hours of gambling and beer drinking -- and get paid for it.
If this has piqued your interest, here are some more details: If you're selected, you'll take part in a two hour session during which you'll consume alcoholic and/or non-alcoholic beverages and gamble. If you do well gambling, your winnings will be converted into a cash bonus.
There are a few requirements for the study, though a pretty sizable number of UBC students will meet them without issue. First of all, and probably the biggest qualifier, you have to be male. You also need to be 19 years old, a social drinker and have gambled at least once per month in the past three months. Other requirements include no history of gambling or alcohol addiction, mental or neurological illness or head injury and no regular medication.
The study runs until April or May. If you think you're interested or have any questions, you can contact faculty supervisor Luke Clark at luke.clark@psych.ubc.ca or Juliette Tobias-Webb at jtobiaswebb@psych.ubc.ca.
If you want to earn a bit of money to recover from Valentine's Day spending or simply aren't opposed to the idea of contributing to research while spending an afternoon gambling and drinking beer, this might be the opportunity for you -- just be prepared to deal with lines around the block to sign up.