Raising player awareness: introducing reinstatement tool for players that self-excluded
One of the key aspects of working proactively is to make the individual aware of the consequences of their actions. Anyone who is aware of how, for example, smoking is affecting their body, is facing an active choice: either you consciously harm your body, or you (consciously) choose to change your behaviour. This type of reasoning applies to players as well, of course.
In recent years, we’ve seen an increasing amount of demands on gambling operators to work to prevent problem gambling in their customers, by making the customers aware of what healthy play behaviour. Spain is among those countries; they identified several improvement areas for the industry and are outlining new gambling restrictions starting 2020.
Self-exclusion is one of the main areas of interest to us. As an operator, it is important to keep in mind that a self-exclusion doesn’t necessarily mean that the player is having immense problems and should stop playing. Some use self-exclusion as a way to control their gambling habits, for example to keep themselves from gambling when intoxicated. Some players use the tool to express dissatisfaction around their gambling experience, which is not necessarily an indication of gambling problems. And then there’s the group of players who has realised that they are having difficulties controlling their gambling, and that they are suffering negative consequences as a result of it. As an operator, you need to see and understand what motivates players to self-exclude. Otherwise, you risk overlooking important information about your players, and your role as an operator.
For the last group, we have worked actively with several operators to create a tutorial for risk players who have been using the self exclusion tool and want to start gambling again. From research and experience, we know that players who have self excluded because they’ve experienced negative consequences from gambling are at risk of a) self exclude repeatedly, and b) experience increasingly severe negative consequences from their gambling. The purpose of the tutorial is greatly related to other proactive RG work: to inform and educate players around healthy gambling habits. The difference is compulsion and repetition.
The tutorial itself consists of multiple steps and short, informative sequenced videos. The tutorial ends with the player confirming whether or not they want to start gambling again, making it an active and conscious decision.
The steps to the tutorial are:
General information about risks related to gambling and erroneous beliefs.
Why there is often a difference between intention and chosen actions.
How risk levels relate to different types of games.
Reasonable self-perceived gambling level and how it compare to other players.
Understanding RG tools and how to use them.
How to set limits and why they are important.
Activate account.
The tutorial helps motivate the player, and matches their needs with an information about a correlating RG tool. If the player indicates that they are having second thoughts about reactivating their accounts, the tutorial promotes an RG tool that correlates with their specific problem. Operators can choose to either automate it and use it as a tool to motivate players to set limits and sustainable play behaviour, or it can be used by customer support when talking to customers that would like to start gambling again after a period of self exclusion.
In short: providing a reinstatement tool for players that have self excluded not only helps the player; it also ensures that you as an operator let your customers restart their gambling on a fresh note, with knowledge and tools to promote healthy gambling habits.