Schadensbegrenzung beim Glücksspiel

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Die Verfügbarkeit von Glücksspielen ist in Deutschland seit Mitte der 1970er-Jahre stark gestiegen. Als Reaktion auf potenzielle Folgeschäden dieses Entwicklungstrends wurden von industrieller und staatlicher Seite Maßnahmen eines verantwortungsbewussten Umgangs mit Glücksspielen (Responsible Gambling) ergriffen. Kritische Analysen dieses Präventionsansatzes verweisen alternativ auf ein Konzept der öffentlichen Gesundheitsfürsorge (Public Health). Fragestellung Vor dem Hintergrund des neuen Glücksspielstaatsvertrags, der am 01. Juli 2021 in Kraft getreten ist, stellt sich die Frage, wie die beiden Ansätze einzuordnen und hinsichtlich einer effektiven Schadensbegrenzung zu bewerten sind. Methode Im Zuge eines narrativen Reviews erfahren die Kernaussagen dieser beiden Ansätze eine kritische Analyse. Ergebnisse Das Konzept des verantwortungsbewussten Umgangs mit Glücksspielen fokussiert primär auf die individuelle Verantwortung und Vulnerabilität der Spieler*innen. Verhältnispräventive Maßnahmen, wie die Reduktion der Verfügbarkeit, Beschränkungen der Spielanreize durch Eingriffe in die Spielstruktur und Werberestriktionen, die Interessenkonflikte der Anbieter hervorrufen, fehlen weitgehend. Der interdisziplinäre Public-Health-Ansatz ist breiter ausgerichtet und berücksichtigt neben individuellen Risikofaktoren zielgenauer soziale, umweltbezogene und wirtschaftliche Faktoren, die zusammen mit der Identifizierung schädlicher Eigenschaften des Produkts „Glücksspiel“ zu einer umfassenden Präventionsstrategie führen. Schlussfolgerung Neue Erkenntnisse in den Bereichen Forschung und Praxis sowie die zunehmende Akzeptanz evidenzbasierter Public-Health-Strategien wecken Hoffnungen, dass dieser Weg zukünftig auch in Deutschland beschritten wird.

Analyzing Consumer Protection for Gamblers Across Different Online Gambling Operators: A Replication Study

Online gambling is a growing business with many stakeholders. Due to the fact that a small proportion of gamblers develop problems, responsible gambling (RG), player protection, and harm minimization have become core areas for gambling regulators. The present study replicated a previous one carried out by Bonello and Griffiths in 2017 to determine whether there had been any significant changes by leading gambling operators due to increased regulatory pressures over the past few years. Fifty leading online gambling operators were audited in relation to their RG practices as well as engaging with their customer services by posing as a problem gambler. Results indicated that overall RG practices appeared to have improved in the past 3 years based on the information in dedicated RG webpages, the increase in RG tool availability, and the communication with customer services. Despite the fact that RG practices appear to have improved, there were still areas for improvement.

The Effect of Mandatory Play Breaks on Subsequent Gambling Behavior Among Norwegian Online Sports Betting, Slots and Bingo Players: A Large-scale Real World Study

In order to protect gamblers, gambling operators have introduced a wide range of responsible gambling (RG) tools. Mandatory play breaks (i.e., forced termination of a gambling session) and personalized feedback about the gambling expenditure are two RG tools that are frequently used. While the motivation behind mandatory play breaks is simple (i.e., gambling operators expect gamblers to reduce their gambling significantly as a result of an enforced break in play), empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of the mandatory breaks is still limited. The present study comprised a real-world experiment with the clientele of Norwegian gambling operator Norsk Tipping. On the Norsk Tipping gambling website, which offers slots, bingo and sports-betting, forced termination occurs if gamblers have played continuously for a one-hour period. The study tested the effect of different lengths of mandatory play breaks (90 s, 5 min, 15 min) on subsequent gambling behavior, as well as the effect of combined personalized feedback concerning money wagered, won, and net win/loss. In total 21,129 online players (61% male; mean age = 47.4 years) experienced at least one play break between April 17 and May 21 (2020) with 156,989 mandatory play breaks in total. Results indicated that a 15-min mandatory play break led to a disproportionately longer voluntary play pause compared to 5-min and 90-s mandatory play breaks. Personalized feedback appeared to have no additional effect on subsequent gambling and none of the mandatory play breaks appeared to affect the increase or decrease in money wagered once players started to gamble again.

Analysing the Twitter accounts of licensed Sports gambling operators in Spain: a space for responsible gambling?

Apart from the economic impact of the online gambling industry, the social, public order and health-related consequences of the industry merit analysis to inform appropriate action, regulatory or otherwise. The omnipresence of ICTs, the inability to use technologies properly, along with the growth of online gambling channels, have acted simultaneously as a catalyst for the spread of pathological and problematic gambling. In this context, social networks have become a highly effective platform to instil positive attitudes towards the products of gambling operators. This work uses the Natural Language Processing based web application “GPLSI Social Analytics” to track, in real time, the conversations generated on Twitter about the Spanish domain accounts of the main online sports gambling operators. The findings indicate that most of the messages about these operators are positive and surprise is the predominant emotion associated with them. The notion of responsible online gambling barely receives a mention in the conversations analysed. Given the role of new technologies as access facilitators and potential enhancers of addictive behaviours, it is necessary to adopt measures directed at social networks that guarantee the coexistence of the right to freedom of expression with the protection of the most vulnerable populations.

“When the Fun Stops, Stop”: An analysis of the provenance, framing and evidence of a ‘responsible gambling’ campaign

When the Fun Stops, Stop, is a prominent ‘responsible gambling’ campaign in the UK, originally funded and delivered by the industry-initiated and funded Senet Group. Since the Senet Group’s dissolution in 2020, the campaign has been overseen by the Betting and Gambling Council (BGC), the main gambling industry trade body. There has been no prior analysis of the activities, ideas and framing adopted by the Senet Group, who claimed to be acting as an industry ‘watchdog’ and oversaw what they characterised as a major public education campaign. We collated written and image-based material related to the Senet Group and its When the Fun Stops, Stop campaign from multiple sources. Guided by Entman’s four functions of framing, we analysed the Senet Group’s framing of the issues it sought to address, particularly harmful gambling, as well as its causes, and the solutions, focusing on the group’s main activity: the delivery of the When the Fun Stops, Stop campaign. We also critically appraised an evaluation of the campaign funded by the Senet Group, using the findings to interrogate the stated claims about the campaign’s effectiveness. The analysis showed that the Senet Group’s framing of the problem, its causes, and proposed responses resemble those adopted by other industries and industry-funded groups. This involves portraying any harms caused by their products as limited to an atypical minority, rejecting upstream determinants of harm, and promoting individually-targeted voluntary measures, all contrary to the evidence of what works in health promotion, and what would characterise a public health approach. Neither the existing evidence base nor the evidence presented by the Senet Group support their claims about the campaign’s effectiveness. These findings add to concerns about industry-funded campaigns in other areas. To minimise conflicts of interest, interventions intended to address gambling-related harms, such as public education campaigns, should be evidence-based and developed, implemented and evaluated completely independent of the industry and industry-funded organisations.