Search

Current industry-developed safer gambling messages such as 'Take time to think' and 'Gamble responsibly' have been criticized as ineffective slogans. As a result, Australia has recently introduced seven independently-developed safer gambling messages. The UK Government intends to introduce independently-developed messages from 2024 onwards, and this measure could be similarly appropriate for the US states where sports betting has been legalized and gambling advertising has become pervasive. Given this context, the current study recruited race and sports bettors from the UK and USA to elicit their perceptions of the seven Australian safer gambling messages. Participants (N = 1865) rated on a Likert-scale seven newly introduced messages and two existing ones ('Take time to think' and 'Gamble responsibly') using seven evaluative statements. Participants also reported their levels of problem gambling severity. For most statements in both jurisdictions, the new messages performed significantly better than the existing ones. Specifically, the new messages were deemed more attention grabbing, applicable on a personal level, helpful to gamblers, and more likely to encourage cutbacks in gambling. The message that included a specific call to action ('What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit') was one of the best performing messages. Interaction effects observed in relation to jurisdiction, age, gender, and problem gambling severity were generally small enough to counteract the argument that different populations might benefit from substantially different messages. These findings add to previous research on the independent design of effective safer gambling messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Gambling advertising employs a range of persuasive strategies. We therefore aimed to evaluate a counter-advertising intervention video to increase resilience to gambling advertising persuasion. Methods Three in-depth focus groups were conducted, and each group contained a mixture of gambling-related academics (N  = 12) and experts with lived experience of gambling-related harm (N  = 10). Participants were given access to the intervention video and provided feedback during the focus groups. Qualitative data were audio recorded and thematically analysed by the research team. Results Three main themes were identified. First, participants recommended a shorter video that had a simplified and digestible structure. Second, frequent real-world examples of gambling advertisements within the video were discouraged, and the inclusion of a relatable human voiceover was considered imperative to the receptiveness of the video. Finally, participants deemed it important to deliver psychologically grounded yet jargon-free content via a conversational style. An overall narrative framed by consumer-protection was also preferred in order to increase acceptance of the video content, rather than a more didactic framing. Conclusions Evaluating the acceptability of a counter advertising intervention video provided valuable insight from both an academic and lived-experience perspective. Such insight is instrumental to the meaningful co-design of counter-advertising interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic gaming machines (EGMs) are a significant source of gambling spend due to their widespread use. Skill-based gambling machines (SGMs) represent an innovative adaptation, merging EGMs' chance-based rewards with video game-like skills. This study aimed to explore the appeal and behavioural consequences of playing SGMs in comparison to traditional reel-based EGMs, particularly focusing on illusions of control, betting behaviour, and the subjective experience of gamblers. Participants (N = 1,260) were recruited online and engaged in an online task simulating either an SGM or a reel-based EGM, with outcomes represented to influence their survey compensation. The study examined the effect of SGMs relative to EGMs on bet size, persistence, enjoyment, illusions of control, game immersion, and the influence of demographic and gambling problem severity. SGMs particularly appealed to younger adults, regular EGM players, and people with more gambling problems. Despite identical payout structures, people assigned to play SGM showed greater illusions of control, believing in the influence of skill on game outcomes and that practice could improve results. However, there was no significant difference in overall betting intensity between SGM and EGM players, although specific demographic groups showed faster betting speeds in SGMs. SGMs, despite not inherently encouraging higher betting intensity, attract vulnerable groups and create illusions of control, posing new regulatory challenges. The visual and interactive features of SGMs, while appealing, might contribute to these perceptions, indicating a need for careful regulation and further research on their long-term impacts on gambling behaviour and harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in other areas of science, understanding in the addictions can progress by analogy, by taking concepts from a relatively well-understood area and applying them to another domain. This process helped increase our understanding of gambling, by using prior insights from substance-based addictions, and gambling has, in turn, served as an analogy for loot boxes: gambling-liked elements in video games. Although this could be a good way to make rapid initial advances, it could also limit our ability in the long-run to produce a complete understanding of the new area of inquiry. In this think piece I argue that these conceptual links did in fact limit our understanding of gambling in several ways, and that the same pattern is now becoming apparent with loot boxes. Although loot box expenditure correlates robustly with disordered gambling severity, it does not appear to correlate strongly with impulsivity, a key driver of disordered gambling symptomology. People also often gamble to try to win money, but this motivation is rarely observed with loot boxes. Instead, I argue that the enjoyment and meaning that gamers derive from games is a core motivator for loot box expenditure. Video games can bring enjoyment both directly and via the social connections they can help create, and these are motivations seen less frequently in gambling. This example can act as a warning to addiction science on the risks of proceeding via analogy too strictly, and of the need to consider the unique context of each potentially addictive behavior of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gambling marketing is ubiquitous in UK football and, despite gambling industry self-regulation such as the whistle-to-whistle ban, remains prominent in live TV coverage. Major international tournaments do not usually feature gambling pitch-side advertising and shirt sponsorship, increasing the importance of TV adverts during these high-profile competitions. The present study examined the prevalence and features of gambling adverts shown during the commercial broadcaster ITV's live coverage of games in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Each match shown live on ITV was recorded. For each gambling advert, the timing of the advert (pre-/during-/post-match), the advert category (financial inducements/live odds/safer gambling/brand awareness) and safer gambling messaging were recorded. Over the 30 matches analyzed, there were 156 adverts directly for gambling brands or products (M = 5.2, range 3 – 8), featuring adverts from eight different operators. The majority of adverts were shown pre-match (80.8%). Financial inducements were most commonly advertised (42.3%), followed by brand awareness adverts (26.9%). The safer gambling message 'take time to think' was shown in 70.5% of adverts. Adverts for lottery products did not feature any safer gambling messages. Multiple gambling adverts were shown during each match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, especially so pre-match. Pre-match adverts predominantly encourage viewers to gamble promptly, through financial inducements and boosted live odds. Any potential further legislation could therefore consider either further restrictions based on the entire broadcast, or by enforcing the use of specific safer gambling messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK bookies (bookmakers) herd geographically in less-affluent areas. The present work shows that UK bookies alsoherd with the special bets that they advertise to consumers, both in their shop window advertising and on TV adverts as shownto millions of viewers. I report an observational study of betting adverts over the 2014 soccer World Cup. Bet types varyin complexity, with complex types having the highest expected losses. Bookies herded on a common strategy of advertisingspecial bets on two levels: by almost exclusively advertising complex bet types with high expected losses, and by advertisingrepresentative events within a given complex bet type. This evidence is most consistent with bookies’ advertising targeting arepresentativeness heuristic amongst bettors. Bookies may know how to nudge bettors toward larger losses

Loot boxes provide randomized rewards in video games; their purchase is linked to disordered gambling and they are present in approximately half of UK video games. The relative novelty of loot boxes means that regulators and policymakers in various jurisdictions are still deciding how to regulate them. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is the first, and presently only, jurisdiction to legally require companies to disclose the probabilities of obtaining randomized loot box rewards – an approach that is also favored by the industry as self-regulation. This study is the first to assess paid loot box prevalence in the PRC and companies' discretionary interpretations of probability disclosure regulations. Loot boxes were found in 91 of the 100 highest-grossing PRC iPhone games. Of games deemed suitable for children aged 12+, 90.5% contained loot boxes. Probability disclosures could not be found for 4.4% of games containing loot boxes. Disclosures were implemented through various methods both in-game and on the games' official websites; however, consistent with the concept of 'sludge,' only 5.5% used the most prominent format of automatically displaying the probabilities on the in-game loot box purchase page. Loot box probability disclosures should be uniform and visually prominent to best help inform consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractA broad quantitative literature has explored the extent and distribution of gambling-related harm. However, any quantitative measure involves a number of statistical decisions around item selection and weighting that may affect its ability to provide an accurate summary of a gambler’s lived experience. This may especially be an issue with a condition as varied and multifaceted as gambling-related harm. The present research therefore used qualitative methods to validate the categorization of gamblers into four levels of harm via the Gambling Harms Scale (10-items) (GHS-10) through an analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews with gamblers. Results showed that unharmed gamblers saw gambling as just another leisure activity, which relieved stress and brought them closer to other people. Low harm gamblers were similar but could experience emotional stresses over their level of gambling expenditure. Just under half of all moderate harm gamblers experienced occasional severe financial impacts and emotional stresses from their gambling. Finally, all high harm gamblers experienced chronic financial impacts and emotional stresses, which spilled over into relationship problems for three quarters of this group, and negative impacts on health or work/study for around half of this group. These results showed that the severity of participants’ lived experience of gambling increased with their GHS-10 score, providing a qualitative validation for this quantitative self-report measure. This qualitative validation for a quantitative scale is argued to be a promising avenue for future gambling research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Structural characteristics' are gambling product design features which contribute to the amount of time or money that gamblers spend using them, such as the short pay-out intervals of electronic gaming machines (EGMs). However, it is important to also understand the structural characteristics of current online sports betting products, and how these products may continue to evolve via a forward-looking analysis of utility patents, given the increasing international popularity of this gambling mode. A scoping review of the emergent structural characteristics associated with online sports betting was conducted upon the literature (2015–2022), and of sports betting utility patents. A total of 26 literature records and 8 utility patents were included. Results indicated that online sports betting is instantly accessible, provides rapid and continuous betting opportunities, and offers user-interactivity via features such as 'cash-out' and the ability to instantly deposit funds. Additionally, the online sports betting market has expanded into adjacent industries such as esports. The included utility patents suggest that online sports betting may evolve by incorporating peer-to-peer competitive elements, augmented reality, and highly specific statistics/notifications. Overall, the online environment has transformed sports betting into a faster and more harmful gambling mode that provides a diverse range of features and betting opportunities. It is important that this area of research develops in order to encourage appropriate policy and the more ethical redesign of online sports betting products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]