UK study flags up “inconsistent” safer gambling signposting

The study by Bournemouth University recommended providing more transparent information on online gaming.

UK.- A Bournemouth University study commissioned by the industry-backed responsible gambling charity GambleAware has flagged up “poor and inconsistent” signposting of safer gambling information in online gaming. The study concludes that operators should provide more transparent information and promotional materials to help reduce gambling harm.

The university has reported on four studies that formed part of Responsible Gambling Projects. The first was an initial scoping review on the extent and diversity of peer-reviewed academic research on online gambling. That was followed by a narrative and systematic review of transparency in safer gambling and a content analysis of transparency in UK gambling websites.

The studies found that all gambling websites surveyed displayed age warnings, icons and links to safer gambling organisations as legally required. However, they identified concerns about how the information was shown.

Researchers found that information was harder to find on mobile browsers and was usually present in text and icons, rather than images or video. They said this approach made safer gambling messages “boring, text-heavy and hard to engage with”. Moreover, some sites also had icons with no links to further information.

The review found that while safer gambling webpages generally provided a “positive” experience, being designed as separate from the main site, signposting to the pages was often “quite poor and inconsistent”. It also highlighted a lack of Covid-related information.

Recommendations for improvement on safer gambling messaging

The researchers have made a series of recommendations to improve accessibility, including a proposal for collaboration between operators and safer gambling organisations and academia. They say this would allow a broader range of data to be used to promote safer gambling and minimise harm.

It could also support long-term studies to build evidence for the effectiveness of various interventions, to provide information more accurately and responsibly and to deliver information that targets common misunderstandings.

Researchers also recommended ensuring that safer gambling links and icons are clear and prominent and have obvious, working links to safer gambling information. They said such content should not be relegated to the bottom of web pages and that the text should be the same size as the rest of the web content.

They recommended that mobile sites have safer gambling content at the top of the page and that sites direct consumers to a variety of external sites and groups and organisations. Operators were also recommended to use videos and images, to make safer gambling information consistent with the look and feel of the rest of the website, and to consider personalising information using web tracking data.

Finally, the researchers recommend further investigation to understand how players engage with safer gambling messages. They proposed the use of eye-tracking to assess the usability of sites.

GambleAware chief executive Zoë Osmond said: “This report makes some important recommendations for gambling operators to place greater focus and importance on safer gambling messages on their websites and ensure people are aware of the risks.

“This research serves as further proof that we need to see the gambling white paper published as soon as possible to avoid further gambling harm.”