Nadia Arshad, Nathan Lakew, Per Carlbring, Ståle Pallesen, Tony Leino, David Forsström, Philip Lindner, Jakob Jonsson
Mandatory interventions achieved substantially higher completion rates, whereas voluntary video and quiz interventions were perceived as more relevant and useful by participants. Although mandatory pregame delivery was associated with lower values for selected monetary gambling indicators than voluntary pregame delivery, none of the intervention conditions differed from the control group in gambling behaviour or uptake of RG measures. These findings indicate the need for further research to identify more effective approaches for promoting RG.
BACKGROUND: Erroneous beliefs about gambling contribute to the development and maintenance of problem gambling and represent an important public health concern. Norsk Tipping (NT), the state-owned gambling operator in Norway, initiated the Spillepuls project to develop and evaluate preventive interventions for its online customers. This study evaluated an educational intervention that addressed gambling-specific misconceptions among users of NT's online casino platform. The intervention compared different formats (video versus quiz), delivery modes (voluntary versus mandatory), and timing (pregame versus during play), against a non-intervention control group. The outcome measures comprised gambling behaviour and use of responsible gambling (RG) measures.
METHOD: The data were collected by NT as part of their routine operations. The experiment took place between May 2022 and January 2023. During this period, NT randomly assigned 18,981 new online casino customers to one of three conditions (Video, Quiz, or Control) on their third day of play. Customers allocated to the Video and Quiz conditions were subsequently randomized to one of three delivery modes: voluntary before gameplay, mandatory before gameplay, or mandatory during gameplay.
RESULTS: No significant differences in gambling behaviour or uptake of RG measures were observed between the intervention groups and the control group. However, comparisons across the six intervention conditions revealed clear differences in engagement. Mandatory pregame delivery produced the highest completion rates, with a small but significant difference between the video and quiz formats (99.8% vs. 98.2%; χ2(1, N = 5403) = 10.9, p < .01). In contrast, the voluntary pregame video achieved the lowest completion rate (7.1%; χ2(1, N = 5435) = 283.4, p < .001). Participants rated the video interventions as more relevant and useful than the quizzes in both the mandatory and voluntary conditions, whereas the quiz format was perceived as less intrusive.
CONCLUSION: Mandatory interventions achieved substantially higher completion rates, whereas voluntary video and quiz interventions were perceived as more relevant and useful by participants. Although mandatory pregame delivery was associated with lower values for selected monetary gambling indicators than voluntary pregame delivery, none of the intervention conditions differed from the control group in gambling behaviour or uptake of RG measures. These findings indicate the need for further research to identify more effective approaches for promoting RG.