Experts claim Take Time to Think campaign has “little to no” impact on gambling behaviour
Study by Warwick University calls into question the effectiveness of the responsible gambling messaging following online roulette test
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC)-backed “Take Time to Think” campaign has been labelled ineffective following studies by academics from a leading UK university.
The findings follow a study by Warwick University in which 1,500 people were split into three groups to test the effectiveness of the slogan while they played online roulette.
One group played the game with the slogan displayed throughout, while the second group also had the slogan displayed throughout but it would also periodically appear as a pop-up.
The last group did not have the slogan displayed or as a pop-up at all.
Based on the results from the study, the experts concluded that the slogan had “little to no effect” on people’s behaviour while gambling.
The academics found that the effect of the messaging was “not statistically credible” but did note that the proportion bet outcome was around two percentage points lower when the message was displayed.
The study defined proportion bet as a fraction between zero and one for participants who made at least one bet and left with some bonus.
The use of proportion bet was deemed more sensitive than using a participant’s final balance as it can differentiate between those who, for example, bet nothing but retained their £5 bonus and those who placed £10 in bets but broke-even, therefore receiving £5, the same as a starting bonus.
However, the study said that a two percentage point difference was below its detection threshold of between five and six percentage points, so the results could not be reliably distinguished from a null effect.
Lukasz Walasek, associate professor of psychology at the University of Warwick and co-author of the study, commented: “The messaging had little to no effect on people’s gambling behaviour. The study did not reliably change the amount people bet, and it certainly didn’t have the intended effect of reducing the time spent gambling.
“Whether or not they received the message, people spent similar amounts of time placing each bet, made similar numbers of roulette spins and played for a similar length of time overall.”
After the experts established the slogan had minimum effect on players, it was recommended that stronger messaging should be developed akin to warning labels on other potentially harmful products such as alcohol and cigarettes.
Professor Elliot Ludvig, professor of psychology at the University of Warwick, said: “If the industry is to be successful at preventing gambling harm, awareness messaging should be strongly worded but independently developed, tested and validated in order to better inform and educate people about gambling and its risks.”
Ludvig highlighted that there is already a template for this kind of messaging on both alcohol and cigarette packaging, and this is the format gambling messaging should follow.
He added: “Safer gambling messages could take on a similar format. It should be obvious how gambling addiction can take hold of people. Clearer messaging would also create greater transparency around certain games and how the wider industry works.”
Academics at the University of Warwick had previously examined the effectiveness of another BGC campaign, “When the Fun Stops Stop”. The research found that the message had just 2% effectiveness in preventing further gambling online.