Multi-venue exclusion program and early detection of problem gamblers: What works and what not?

Session Title

Session 1-1-B: Establishing Best Practices

Presentation Type

Event

Location

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

Start Date

28-5-2019 9:15 AM

End Date

28-5-2019 10:40 AM

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Since April 2014, a multi-venue exclusion program exists in the federal state of Hesse (Germany) that covers all gambling arcades with AWP-machines. In addition, the operators are obliged by legislation to exclude gambling-addicted or excluded individuals from gambling and to train the staff in the early detection of problem gambling. The present research has two objectives: to analyze the dataset of all excluded individuals in Hesse (N = 12,253) with regard to core sociodemographic variables and to check the staff compliance with regard to the implementation of player protection measures by covert test purchases. For the second purpose, students visited 64 of the 750 Hessian gambling arcades. The results of the database analyses show that only about 1% of all exclusions have been initiated by third parties (e.g., operators). The excluded gamblers were mainly male (87.7%), and a large number of individuals had a migration background (46.6%). Furthermore, the test purchases revealed that in 16.4% of all attempts, no entrance control was carried out. In 28.1% of all gambling arcades, the subjects were able to gambling despite an active self-exclusion. Finally, staff responded in only 7.3% of all cases with appropriate interventions when being confronted with problematic gambling patterns. In general, the establishment of a multi-venue exclusion program can thus be recommended due to several reasons (e.g., considerable acceptance by high risk-groups). However, several shortcomings with regard to staff compliance call for a more consistent monitoring of the implementation of legally required measures for player protection in situ.

Keywords

Exclusion program, multiple venues, gaming arcades, early detection, compliance check, harm-minimization

Author Bios

Tobias Hayer has studied Psychology at the University of Bremen. Since 2001, he is research assistant at the Institute of Psychology and Cognition Research (now: Institute of Psychology) at the University of Bremen. He received his PhD in 2012 from the University of Bremen, his dissertation topic dealt with adolescent problem gambling. Currently, Tobias conducts research on issues mainly related to problem gambling and risk behaviors in adolescence.

Gerhard Meyer has studied Psychology and received his PhD in 1982. He is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Bremen(Germany) and was involved in several research projects on problem gambling, e.g. problem gambling and delinquency, neuroendocrine response to casino gambling, self-exclusion, development of an assessment tool to evaluate the risk potential of different gambling types, and served as a consultant for regulators. He also acts as a forensic expert witness in court cases.

Funding Sources

The study was funded by the the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration. The funding was not subject to any restrictions or specific instructions with regard to data collection, analysis or interpretation, or to publication of the results.

Competing Interests

Tobias Hayer has received a grant for gambling research from the Ministry of the Interior of Lower Saxony. Gerhard Meyer has received grants for gambling research from, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Ministries of Health of Hamburg and Bremen, the Ministry of the Interior of Lower Saxony, and several gambling providers.

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May 28th, 9:15 AM May 28th, 10:40 AM

Multi-venue exclusion program and early detection of problem gamblers: What works and what not?

Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada

Since April 2014, a multi-venue exclusion program exists in the federal state of Hesse (Germany) that covers all gambling arcades with AWP-machines. In addition, the operators are obliged by legislation to exclude gambling-addicted or excluded individuals from gambling and to train the staff in the early detection of problem gambling. The present research has two objectives: to analyze the dataset of all excluded individuals in Hesse (N = 12,253) with regard to core sociodemographic variables and to check the staff compliance with regard to the implementation of player protection measures by covert test purchases. For the second purpose, students visited 64 of the 750 Hessian gambling arcades. The results of the database analyses show that only about 1% of all exclusions have been initiated by third parties (e.g., operators). The excluded gamblers were mainly male (87.7%), and a large number of individuals had a migration background (46.6%). Furthermore, the test purchases revealed that in 16.4% of all attempts, no entrance control was carried out. In 28.1% of all gambling arcades, the subjects were able to gambling despite an active self-exclusion. Finally, staff responded in only 7.3% of all cases with appropriate interventions when being confronted with problematic gambling patterns. In general, the establishment of a multi-venue exclusion program can thus be recommended due to several reasons (e.g., considerable acceptance by high risk-groups). However, several shortcomings with regard to staff compliance call for a more consistent monitoring of the implementation of legally required measures for player protection in situ.