Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) reported in a recent study that by removing industry-set options for deposit limits, online gamblers reduce the amount they set for themselves by up to 46%.
Funded by GambleAware, BIT ran a trial inviting 45,000 existing bet365 customers to set deposit limits, with 4% (1,731) of those invited doing so. Recruitment for the project took place between March and April 2020, with the intervention and observation period running from April to May 2020.
Participants were randomly allocated into one of three trial groups. Each group was presented with one of three versions of a deposit limit tool:
- The business as usual version, with the current deposit limit setting tool.
- A dropdown menu which displayed low value deposit suggestions, with an upper limit of £250 and a text box for customers to freely type a higher amount.
- No suggested deposit amount and only provided with a text box, to freely type their desired deposit limit.
The research found that customers exposed to the industry-standard deposit limit dropdown options deposited more money into their accounts over 30 days: however, "a larger sample of customers would be needed to confirm these observations."
From BIT:
Deposit limit tools are a common feature of gambling sites in Great Britain. Customers are typically required to scroll through a dropdown menu of pre-defined options, such as £10,000, £5,000, £1,000 and £5, to find the value that they wish to set as their personal limit. The options usually begin with the largest deposit limit available, which in some cases can be as high as £100,000.
Insights from behavioural science suggest that the way deposit limit tools are typically presented could influence the limits that people set for themselves. The psychological phenomenon of “anchoring” in particular means peoples’ choices can be over-reliant on prior information.Read more: https://www.bi.team/press-releases/g...ved-from-view/When compared against a control group, researchers found that the absence of high deposit limit options almost halved the average daily deposit limit players set. Of the two deposit interventions, researchers found that deposit limits were 46% lower with just the free text box option and 45% lower when presented with lower deposit suggestions.
The research recommends that deposit limit tools should not present any values at all. Instead, customers should be presented with a free text box with no visible or suggested minimum or maximum monetary amounts on display. The researchers argue that this would likely improve the harm-reduction efficacy of deposit limit tools, without constraining choices for the consumer.
View the report here: https://www.bi.team/wp-content/uploa...-15th-2021.pdf