Abstract
Social responsibility in gambling has become a major issue for the gaming industry. The possibility for online gamblers to
set voluntary time and money limits are a social responsibility practice that is now widespread among online gaming operators.
The main issue concerns whether the voluntary setting of such limits has any positive impact on subsequent gambling behaviour
and whether such measures are of help to problem gamblers. In this paper, this issue is examined through data collected from
a representative random sample of 100,000 players who gambled on the win2day gambling website. When opening an account at the win2day site, there is a mandatory requirement for all players to set time and cash-in limits (that cannot exceed 800 € per week).
During a 3-month period, all voluntary time and/or money limit setting behaviour by a subsample of online gamblers (n = 5,000) within this mandatory framework was tracked and recorded for subsequent data analysis. From the 5,000 gamblers,
the 10 % most intense players (as measured by theoretical loss) were further investigated. Voluntary spending limits had the
highest significant effect on subsequent monetary spending among casino and lottery gamblers. Monetary spending among poker
players significantly decreased after setting a voluntary time limit. The highest significant decrease in playing duration
was among poker players after setting a voluntary playing duration limit. The results of the study demonstrated that voluntary
limit setting had a specific and significant effect on the studied gamblers. Therefore, voluntary limits appear to show an
appropriate effect in the desired target group (i.e., the most gaming intense players).
set voluntary time and money limits are a social responsibility practice that is now widespread among online gaming operators.
The main issue concerns whether the voluntary setting of such limits has any positive impact on subsequent gambling behaviour
and whether such measures are of help to problem gamblers. In this paper, this issue is examined through data collected from
a representative random sample of 100,000 players who gambled on the win2day gambling website. When opening an account at the win2day site, there is a mandatory requirement for all players to set time and cash-in limits (that cannot exceed 800 € per week).
During a 3-month period, all voluntary time and/or money limit setting behaviour by a subsample of online gamblers (n = 5,000) within this mandatory framework was tracked and recorded for subsequent data analysis. From the 5,000 gamblers,
the 10 % most intense players (as measured by theoretical loss) were further investigated. Voluntary spending limits had the
highest significant effect on subsequent monetary spending among casino and lottery gamblers. Monetary spending among poker
players significantly decreased after setting a voluntary time limit. The highest significant decrease in playing duration
was among poker players after setting a voluntary playing duration limit. The results of the study demonstrated that voluntary
limit setting had a specific and significant effect on the studied gamblers. Therefore, voluntary limits appear to show an
appropriate effect in the desired target group (i.e., the most gaming intense players).
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original Paper
- Pages 1-14
- DOI 10.1007/s10899-012-9332-y
- Authors
- Michael Auer, Office 404 Albany House, Neccton Ltd, 324 Regent Street, London, W1B 3HH UK
- Mark D. Griffiths, Psychology Division, Department of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU UK
- Journal Journal of Gambling Studies
- Online ISSN 1573-3602
- Print ISSN 1050-5350