In a CDMA slotted ALOHA channel, the bit rate of user information is determined by a spreading gain. The large value of spreading gain enhances the packet throughput by increasing the probability of a successful packet transmission. However, it degrades the effective throughput by reducing the number of information bits carried via a packet. To solve the problem, we investigated the effect of spreading gain control (SGC) on both throughputs, and evaluated the throughput performance for various SGC schemes. The results show that variable SGC achieves considerably higher effective throughput by adjusting the value of spreading gain to interference level.