Bet365 and Sky Bet-backed study highlights need for frictionless access to RG tools

Operators need to reduce the amount of ‘friction’ in access to responsible gambling tools, a new GambleAware report has confirmed.

Researchers from the GambleAware Behavioural Insights Team, working with Sky Betting & Gaming and bet365, tested the effects of behavioural science-inspired messages on individuals identified as at-risk gamblers and whether these messages would persuade them to use RG tools.

On both websites, researchers found that reducing the number of steps in accessing these tools via the use of targeted messages increased the number of players setting deposit limits and cooling-off periods.

In addition, informing the player that their behaviour was riskier than current societal norms increased the uptake in these tools.

The first phase of the three-part-project conducted a review of behavioural science literature related to gambling, the key features of remote gambling that influence behaviour and the effectiveness of behavioural interventions in this process.

As part of the second phase, GambleAware conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 current gamblers as well as two healthcare professionals treating problem gamblers to greater understand online gambling from a gamblers perspective.

For the third phase, researchers conducted a mystery shopping exercise, in which researchers engaged in low stakes gambling, on six operator websites over a period of two weeks, analysing the data from operators to see where so-called risky play could be reduced.

Releasing its report, the Behavioural Insights Team said strides have been made in understanding behaviours linked to at-risk online gambling, but to make real progress operators need to test “ambitious and impactful” solutions that protect at-risk gamblers.

The team added: “These solutions need to be rigorously tested and scaled across the industry. This will be the core objective of our second phase of work with GambleAware.”