Dropouts’ usage of a responsible gambling tool and subsequent gambling patterns

Abstract

Responsible gambling measures are mainly implemented by the gambling industry to reduce excessive gambling and gambling-related harm. These measures include responsible gambling tools that target online gamblers, typically through behavior tracking, feedback, and, in some cases, advice on how to reduce gambling. Playscan is a responsible gambling tool implemented at gambling sites in several countries with many users in Norway and Sweden. Previous studies have indicated that these tools have limited repeated use. Also, the tools have shown to have a low effect on decreasing gambling behavior. Our aim has been to investigate usage and effect of Playscan among Norwegian gamblers (N = 835) that began to use Playscan and then opted out. These gamblers had a high initial use, but extensive lack of repeated use of the functions included in the tool (secondary data was used). The majority of the gamblers used Playscan for a short period of time. The results indicate that the participants did not gamble less after using Playscan (gambling data analyzed using ANOVA). A hypothesis that can be suggested is that short-term use of Playscan do not decrease the level of gambling for this sample. Also, low-risk gamblers seems to have increased their gambling after using Playscan. The results implies that level of use and length of use needs to be taken into account when evaluating the effect of responsible gambling tools. The low level of use in this sample and in other studies implies that strategies to increase is needed.