A Critical Review of the Harm-Minimisation Tools Available for Electronic Gambling

Abstract

The increasing sophistication of gambling products afforded by electronic technologies facilitates increased accessibility to gambling, as well as encouraging rapid and continuous play. This poses several challenges from a responsible gambling perspective, in terms of facilitating player self-awareness and self-control. The same technological advancements in gambling that may facilitate a loss of control may also be used to provide responsible gambling tools and solutions to reduce gambling-related harm. Indeed, several harm-minimisation strategies have been devised that aim to facilitate self-awareness and self-control within a gambling session. Such strategies include the use of breaks in play, ‘pop-up’ messaging, limit setting, and behavioural tracking. The present paper reviews the theoretical argument underpinning the application of specific harm-minimisation tools, as well as providing one of the first critical reviews of the empirical research assessing their efficacy, in terms of influencing gambling cognitions and behaviour.

An Analysis of Consumer Protection for Gamblers Across Different Online Gambling Operators in Ireland: A Descriptive Study

“…Reality checks have been posited as a mechanism for interrupting gambling or gaming to allow the player time to reflect to their actions (Harris and Griffiths 2017). This may take the form of session-time reminders or an in-built pause every 20 min during play.…”

“…The relationship between electronic gambling and problem gambling is unclear and may be influenced by structural characteristics of specific games (Wood and Griffiths 2015). An argument has also been put forward that the same technological advancements utilised in online gambling may also be used to provide responsible gambling tools and solutions to reduce gambling-related harm (Harris and Griffiths 2017). Furthermore, it has been suggested that a lack of regulatory standards online leaves online gamblers vulnerable without adequate consumer protection, and this was highlighted by Gainsbury et al (2013) who found that around one-third of online gamblers have disputes with online gambling sites.…”

“…While there are limitations to the current evidence base for responsible gambling tools, a recent review indicated that these tools are best viewed as a responsible gambling prevention measure for those who are still gambling within safe limits rather than for problem gamblers, although problem gamblers should continue to be included in ongoing research efforts in this area (Harris and Griffiths 2017). Ladouceur et al (2017) indicated that there is some evidence to suggest particular areas, which provide the opportunity to inform best practice in the area of harm minimisation tools, including self-exclusion, limit setting, responsible gambling machine features, and employees training.…”

Predicting Limit-Setting Behavior of Gamblers Using Machine Learning Algorithms: A Real-World Study of Norwegian Gamblers Using Account Data

“…Player protection and harm minimization have become increasingly important in the gambling industry and have led to many gambling operators providing responsible gambling tools to their clientele (Griffiths 2012;Harris and Griffiths 2017). One of the most popular responsible gambling applications is the provision of pre-commitment limit-setting tools where players can pre-determine the amount of money and/or time they spend gambling within a specified time period (typically per day, per week, and/or per calendar month) (Wood and Griffiths 2010).…”

Does Pop-up Message Content Matter? An Examination of the Effectiveness of Informing Gamblers about their Monetary Losses on Player Limit Adherence

“…However, given the high rate of players who did not accurately recall the content of a pop-up message that was observed in the current study, the efficacy of providing players with (nuanced) information in a pop-up message as a method for advancing informed decision making is brought into question. Although there is a large body of empirical evidence that limit-oriented pop-up messages facilitate limit adherence Auer & Griffiths, 2013;Harris & Griffiths, 2017;Kim et al, 2014;, it could be that the content of the message is irrelevant to its success. Specifically, players may simply infer that the presence of the pop-up means that their limit has been reached.…”