Contact Us
Almost all researchers agree that some forms of gambling are more closely associated with harmful gambling than others. As already discussed, lotteries are generally regarded to be relatively harmless while EGMs are often closely associated with harmful gambling. Indications of the riskiness of various forms of gambling can be obtained from the analysis of data from prevalence studies (Binde, 2011), from statistics about the games played by those who seek help for harmful gambling, and from risk assessment instruments. It is important to keep in mind that the riskiness of a particular form of gambling is relative and perceptions of risk can vary depending on what other games are available in a gambling market at a given point in time (Binde, 2011).
Risk assessment instruments rate various forms of gambling on a scale from relatively harmless to relatively harmful. These ratings are based on factors identified through research on contributors to harmful gambling. The factors are given different weights depending on how important they are for the overall risk potential. Each factor in any given form of gambling is rated on this scale and the sum of the weighted ratings is calculated. If a particular form of gambling is found to be unacceptably risky, some of the rated factors can be modified so as to lower the risk potential. Although gambling companies are currently the primary users of these risk assessment instruments, regulatory authorities are also beginning to use them to identify the most harmful types of gambling.
There are currently three principal risk assessment instruments: GAM-GaRD (Griffiths, Wood, & Parke, 2008); Tools for Responsible Games (TRG - Airas, 2011); and "Tool to evaluate the risk potential of different gambling types" (also known as AsTERiG - Meyer et al., 2011). GAM-GaRD and TRG were developed by a British firm and Finnish researchers, respectively. AsTERiG was created by a group of German researchers and is freely available. It includes ten factors: event frequency, multigame/stake opportunities, prize-back ratio, light and sound effects, variable stake size, availability, jackpot, cash out interval, near-miss, and continuity of the game. GAM-GaRD also includes ten factors while the TRG includes 50 indicators across nine dimensions.