Journal article 145 views 7 downloads
‘Chances are you’re about to lose’: new independent Australian safer gambling messages tested in UK and USA bettor samples
,
Jamie Torrance,
Alex M. T. Russell ,
Matthew Rockloff,
Nerilee Hing,
Matthew Browne
Addiction Research & Theory, Pages: 1 - 9
Swansea University Author: Jamie Torrance
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� 2023 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/16066359.2023.2282545
Abstract
Current industry-developed safer gambling messages such as ‘Take time to think’ and ‘Gamble responsibly’ have been criticized as ineffective slogans. As a result, Australia has recently introduced seven independently-developed safer gambling messages. The UK Government intends to introduce independe...
| Published in: | Addiction Research & Theory |
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| ISSN: | 1606-6359 1476-7392 |
| Published: |
Informa UK Limited
2023
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65203 |
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| Abstract: |
Current industry-developed safer gambling messages such as ‘Take time to think’ and ‘Gamble responsibly’ have been criticized as ineffective slogans. As a result, Australia has recently introduced seven independently-developed safer gambling messages. The UK Government intends to introduce independently-developed messages from 2024 onwards, and this measure could be similarly appropriate for the US states where sports betting has been legalized and gambling advertising has become pervasive. Given this context, the current study recruited race and sports bettors from the UK and USA to elicit their perceptions of the seven Australian safer gambling messages. Participants (N = 1865) rated on a Likert-scale seven newly introduced messages and two existing ones (‘Take time to think’ and ‘Gamble responsibly’) using seven evaluative statements. Participants also reported their levels of problem gambling severity. For most statements in both jurisdictions, the new messages performed significantly better than the existing ones. Specifically, the new messages were deemed more attention grabbing, applicable on a personal level, helpful to gamblers, and more likely to encourage cutbacks in gambling. The message that included a specific call to action (‘What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit’) was one of the best performing messages. Interaction effects observed in relation to jurisdiction, age, gender, and problem gambling severity were generally small enough to counteract the argument that different populations might benefit from substantially different messages. These findings add to previous research on the independent design of effective safer gambling messages. |
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| Keywords: |
Safer gambling messaging; public health; gambling- related harm; ‘take time to think’; ‘gamble responsibly’ |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
This research was funded internally by Central Queensland University. |
| Start Page: |
1 |
| End Page: |
9 |