Data shows slots ads that include RTP more likely to trigger engagement
Behavioural Insights Team's (BIT) findings' raise questions over whether operators would benefit from including RTP information in marketing for both transparency and customer play
Research from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) has discovered that players could be more likely to engage with online casino games should operators’ adverts include the return to player (RTP).
Current rules state that operators must only include the RTP within terms and conditions for a game, rather than ensuring it features prominently in an ad.
However, research conducted last year by the BI Team suggests a shift in attitude to RTP could result in more consumer engagement, albeit with the caveat of managing risky behaviours.
BIT was formed in 2010, initially within the UK government, and 14 years on, employs more than 200 people globally. In December 2021, it became fully owned by innovation charity Nesta.
Last year, BIT conducted an experiment in which it published two online adverts for the same game, though one ad incorrectly featured the phrase: “Players of Fruit Rush lose £7 for every £10 bet on average”, while the other correctly read: “Players of Fruit Rush lose £7 for every £100”.
The RTP drastically differed between the two ads: 30% compared with 93%.
The BI Team used the error to determine whether revealing the RTP impacted player behaviour, whether players actually read RTP information if it featured on an advert and whether it changed audience’s feelings towards the ad.
The research found that despite the fact a 93% RTP still means players should expect to lose money, those that saw that ad were more likely to think they would win money than those who didn’t see any RTP information.
It was a similar story when it comes to analysing who would play the game, with those who had seen the ad with a 93% RTP marginally more likely to play than those who had seen the ad with 30% RTP or no RTP information at all.
After being shown the adverts in greater detail, 51% of participants who saw the 93% RTP ad explained that they would still choose to play the slot game, suggesting they view a higher RTP as more appealing, compared to 47% of those who saw the 30% RTP ad and 48% of those who saw no RTP information.
There was also an increase in play rate among those who were shown the high RTP ad, 66% of which had already gambled on slots in the 12 months prior to the experiment.
BIT suggests that those who regularly gamble are more likely to pay attention to RTP as opposed to those who don’t, with 32% of the participants shown the ad featuring no RTP information admitting they do not gamble.
Thinking of winning
The BI Team also found that of those who saw the 93% RTP ad, one in five (21%) thought they’d win money compared to 13% and 14% for the low RTP and no RTP ads, respectively.
The researchers added that a reason for the seven-percentage point discrepancy between high and no RTP was that people would generally expect slot game RTPs to be low, and when the information is provided, their attitudes shift.
Additionally, fewer participants believed they would lose money with the high RTP (51%) in comparison to the low RTP ad (62%).
Documenting the high RTP did improve trust in the advert according to BIT, with 34% of those who saw the high RTP ad saying it was moderately or very trustworthy.
Trust in the low RTP ad sat at 32%, while trust for the no RTP ad was the lowest of the three, at 29%.
When asked what they remembered about the ads after being shown them for four seconds on a simulated social media feed, 36% of those who had seen the low RTP ad could recall the most information out of all participants.
BIT said: “We show that those people who have gambled recently do pay attention to and adjust their behaviour in response to the RTP being displayed.
“Including this information in ads therefore increases transparency in a meaningful way and can help consumers make more informed decisions about their decision to gamble.
“It may also help with deshrouding a significant UK market and potentially encourage greater competition among operators.
“However, we also show that people’s understanding of RTPs, even when framed in natural units, might be limited: a 93% RTP means one can expect to lose 7% of all money staked, on average, yet players seeing accurate RTP information were more likely to think they would win money than those who did not see RTP information on an ad.
“This might explain why more people decided to play the slot game after seeing this ‘high RTP’.”
BIT said that alternative testing of RTP visualisation on ads should continued to prevent “inadvertently encouraging risky behaviours”.
Alternative options from the team include the median game session’s RTP or the total percentage of sessions that have won money, given traditional RTP does not represent a “typical session”.