Lessons learned from analysis of online play in the UK

Session Title

Session 3-1-C: Special Session

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Location

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Start Date

25-5-2023 9:00 AM

End Date

25-5-2023 10:30 AM

Disciplines

Behavioral Economics | Data Science

Abstract

As part of the Patterns of Play Project, commissioned by GambleAware and the Gambling Commission, we were permitted to sample 140,000 online customer accounts spread across seven leading British operators. Account records covered one full year of activity, with complete data on transactions, use of safer gambling tools and operator social responsibility interventions. All the principal forms of gambling except the National Lottery were represented in the data. Our brief was to describe the online gambling landscape in Britain, including patterns by age, gender and the socio-economic conditions of the neighbourhood to which an account was registered. Topics analysed included the degree of dependence on high spending customers in the betting and gaming sectors, choice of products, levels of spending and engagement, participation in high spend and long duration sessions, achieved player rates-of-return, selection of odds for bets, differential behaviour between daytime and late-night sessions, use of time-out and deposit limit tools, and frequency of operator-initiated interaction with customers potentially experiencing harm. From the project’s extensive Report, this presentation will pick out surprising and unsurprising findings relevant to a range of stakeholders in the gambling sector.

Author Bios

Professor Ian McHale is Chair in Analytics at the University of Liverpool. Ian's research interests lie in statistics in sport and the analysis of gambling markets and issues relating to gambling. Ian was founding Chair of the Royal Statistical Society's Statistics in Sport Section, and serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Forecasting and the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sport. Ian has published research on a wide variety of topics including: ranking methods in sport; forecasting results in football, tennis, cricket and golf; assessment of changes to gambling regulation; and the behaviour of lottery players.

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May 25th, 9:00 AM May 25th, 10:30 AM

Lessons learned from analysis of online play in the UK

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

As part of the Patterns of Play Project, commissioned by GambleAware and the Gambling Commission, we were permitted to sample 140,000 online customer accounts spread across seven leading British operators. Account records covered one full year of activity, with complete data on transactions, use of safer gambling tools and operator social responsibility interventions. All the principal forms of gambling except the National Lottery were represented in the data. Our brief was to describe the online gambling landscape in Britain, including patterns by age, gender and the socio-economic conditions of the neighbourhood to which an account was registered. Topics analysed included the degree of dependence on high spending customers in the betting and gaming sectors, choice of products, levels of spending and engagement, participation in high spend and long duration sessions, achieved player rates-of-return, selection of odds for bets, differential behaviour between daytime and late-night sessions, use of time-out and deposit limit tools, and frequency of operator-initiated interaction with customers potentially experiencing harm. From the project’s extensive Report, this presentation will pick out surprising and unsurprising findings relevant to a range of stakeholders in the gambling sector.