Online operators should encourage the use of responsible gambling instruments

What are responsible gaming tools? Who uses this? And what could a casino do to raise awareness of these tools?

In this article, we answer these questions and discuss the latest insights based on a recent survey of the Australian gambling market.

A responsible gaming tool is a tool, often an app, that encourages responsible gaming by offering the option of setting a deposit limit and taking breaks.

Regulators and researchers are questioning the use of these tools. The reason for an Australian team to investigate its effectiveness in a recent publication.

Their research consists of a number of main questions, namely:

How many online gamblers actually use the responsible gambling tools available to them, such as deposit limits, timeouts or the 'take a break' options?
If someone sets a limit, does that person adjust it again?
And are the players who use these tools different from those who don't? For example, older or younger? Male or female? And do they gamble often or rarely?

How many people who online gambling actually use the responsible gaming tools available?

It is hardly surprising that the people who gamble online make little use of these types of tools. The people who actually use these tools and set the 'withdrawal limit' feature, for example, did set it initially, but as time went on they increased their limit amount. A small percentage even removed the limit altogether.

How do people who use responsible gambling tools differ from those who don't?

The research shows that people who use the time-out or withdrawal limit tools gamble in a more problematic way than other people who gamble.

What other outcomes were interesting?

One of the most interesting findings that emerged from the study was the impact of new Australian government policies. This policy requires all online gambling providers to allow their customers to set or actively refrain from setting a deposit limit. The authors noted that in May 2019 (the month the policy went into effect), the number of set limits rose to 187 requests per month, compared to only about 56 per month in the ten months before that.

What do the findings of the study tell us about the state of consumer protection for online gambling?

The research shows that many people who gamble online do not take advantage of the protection measures that are currently offered. This could be for a variety of reasons, including the idea that they are only for "problem gamblers", or a lack of knowledge of the existence of these tools. Whatever the reason, gambling websites should do more to promote these types of tools.

The study also sheds light on a major limiting factor of existing tools, which is the ability to easily change and remove custom limits. At the time of the study, all six locations had a two-week delay between requesting a limit increase or removal and the change taking effect, but this was clearly not enough to deter customers from making these changes.

This finding raises several questions (the answers of which are beyond the scope of this article): is a site with a built-in restriction the answer? Or should banks step in and allow people to set a cap on their gambling spending that will apply to all sites?

The clear effect of the Australian government's "unsubscribe" limit setting policy demonstrated in this study has important implications. Because if such a small, cheap change could lead to a drastic increase in player limit setting, then the use of this strategy could also be used to encourage other responsible gambling behavior, such as choosing to prohibit gambling on someone's credit card(s).

Overall, this new study provides a comprehensive overview of how Australian customers are using the protections available to them. Clearly, much needs to be done to improve consumer protections for online gambling, but this study points regulators and the industry in the right direction. And the insights that emerge from this research could also be used to protect Dutch players.

Date: 13-07-2021
Original authors: Sally Gainsbury and Robert Heirene

Read the original article here: Online operators need to encourage the use of responsible gambling tools | AGB (agbrief.com)