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UK – RGT study highlights gaming machine player behaviour in casinos

By - 20 July 2016

Research in the UK carried out by the Responsible Gambling Trust has found that players who chase losses on B1 gaming machines in UK casinos are ‘disproportionately likely to be young, male and heavy-spending players.’

The RGT funded study reviewed loyalty card data from more than 5m casino visits made by more than 855,000 visitors between 2012 and 2014.

Researchers from University of Liverpool and University of Salford found that on average players in the study visited the casino 1.2 times per year, but there were some players (1,200) who visited twice a week or more.

Intensity of play, measured by machine player losses per minute, was significantly higher late at night and in the early hours, compared with other times.

Less than a third (28 per cent) of all visits to the casinos (excluding those solely for food and drink) involved play on gaming machines. The typical visit included play on gaming machines for close to or a little less than an hour and a loss of around £25.
Typically, casino gamblers at machines exhibit “loss aversion” demonstrated by longer gaps before returning after a loss.

However, two per cent of the approx. 15,000 players showed a significant tendency towards chasing their losses – returning sooner to the casino after a loss than they would normally do – which is widely considered a key indicator of gambling related harm.
These ‘Chronic Loss chasers’ were disproportionately likely to be young, male and heavy-spending players, which matches findings from past Gambling Commission prevalence studies.

27 per cent of all players studied had at least one six-month period when they had a statistically significant tendency to between-session loss-chasing.

There are positive signs that for the vast majority ‘extreme behaviour’ can be selfcorrecting. Only 3% of those who had a long session (five hours or more) in the first quarter of the review period proved to be persistently returning for long sessions three years later.

Marc Etches, Chief Executive of the Responsible Gambling Trust, said: “This new research helps us understand the nature of play in casinos, which in turn will help evolve the design of effective interventions for at risk players in casinos. The research highlights intensity of play as a marker for poorly controlled gaming, which is particularly prevalent late at night and in the early hours of the morning. We note the recommendation for further research on how gambling behaviour varies by time of day. We’d like to thank Rank for their willingness to open up their data for this research. We look forward to seeing the wider casino industry develop and improve their staff training and intervention work as a result of these findings.”

Professor David Forrest, Professor of Economics, University of Liverpool, said: “In the last triennial review, it was noted that very little was known in this field that could inform regulatory decisions. This study was intended to fill part of that knowledge gap. We found that regulation on the stakes and prizes of machines impinged little, if at all, on typical players. Only a small proportion of all visits feature extreme or atypical play. However, the absolute number is still high and were shown to be episodic, which poses challenges for future monitoring and intervention programmes.”

Professor Ian McHale, Professor of Sports Analytics, University of Manchester Salford, explained: “The broad picture we found is that typical casino users play to a modest scale, with visits lasting about an hour and incurring a loss of around £25. However, our findings underline the need for regular monitoring of play for ‘between session loss chasing,’ which holds significant potential as a means of identifying at-risk players and designing appropriate interventions.”

Richard Wade, Director of Compliance & Responsible Gambling, The Rank Group, added: “The majority of people gamble responsibly but the casino industry recognises its duty to help minimise harm from problem gambling and is constantly looking for new ways to help those who are most vulnerable. Research can only improve our understanding in this area and help us to develop the most effective intervention tools. At Rank, we are therefore very pleased that our gaming machine data has enabled a comprehensive study of player behaviour to be produced and we will use insight from this research to inform our approach to customer intervention.”

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