During Tuesday’s “Seeking Understanding,” a webinar that addressed central issues of problem gambling, Dr. Brett Abarbanel made an interesting comparison to an ecological condition.
When habitats abut one another – for instance, a grassland next to a forest – it’s called the edge effect. Abarbanel, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Executive Director International Gaming Institute – says the same edge effect is occurring in gambling.
“Rather than, say plant and animal communities that exist at the meeting of these edges of different habitats. for us, we have the meeting of gambling, games, sports,” Abarbanel said. “We finance different technologies, consumer platforms, viewership channels. We have different data-driven products. We have different currencies that exist here. … And so, the edge effect in our world is more about the structural changes that are happening as gambling – and I’ll also generically throw in gambling-like products – arise from the different merged habitats of these various pieces that 30 years ago might have just been siloed items.”
Seeking Understanding, sponsored by the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers and hosted by AGEM Director of Responsible Gaming Connie Jones, was held in conjunction with the Problem Gambling Awareness Month.
The diversity of the gaming ecosystem makes it difficult to holistically address issues faced by those with gambling disorders. According to Playtech Head of Regulatory Affairs Charmaine Hogan, it’s important to identify patterns of risky play early so players don’t have to self-exclude, which is the aftermath of when “the player has most probably already experienced harm and requires separate and specific treatment.”
But with the technology available to operators, it’s easier than before to identify players with risk factors. Self-exclusion can be avoided “because these types of modern systems are detecting those patterns of risky play even weeks before the traditional approach does,” Hogan said.
“And it also allows for early intervention, which is when it’s most effective with players, whereas a more traditional approach will take more time, because you’re probably looking at individual alerts, which is a generic pop-up message to all players. Whereas messages that are based on the use of AI and those flagged patterns of play is going to come to you based on what’s being flagged, whether that is you spending too much time or too much money.”
Hogan added that there are more than 70 indicators that can be used across these parameters. What’s important, she added, is that technology allows operators to intervene early on and more pragmatically with players.
“Research has shown us that personalized interventions are more relevant and more effective than generic messages,” Hogan said.
Abarbanel says that an issue that needs to be addressed is defining what is and what isn’t gambling. She noted that it may mean one thing to a legislator or lawyer, and another to the general public.
What operators need to consider is how their product is delivered to people.
“Are you advertising it with the sole goal of very rapid, short-term customer acquisition, or are you looking to build a long-term player base?” Abarbanel asked. “And that sustainable base should, in practice, include long-term responsible gambling practices so that we have the awareness of what problem gambling is and we have pieces at play … to help prevent and diminish what that problem gambling might be for individual players.”
