Scratch-off lottery tickets contain warning messages about the risk of gambling on the back of the ticket. The researchers examined the effectiveness of warning messages on scratch-off tickets. In Study 1, 64 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either interact with the scratch ticket as they would in real life or to search for the warning messages. They were also asked about the effectiveness of the messages. Study 2 involved 47 undergraduate students. Study 2 was similar to Study 1 but used two different tickets and eye-tracking to assess attention to the warning messages. In Study 1, one-third of participants did not search the back. In Study 2, participants were no more likely to look at the warning messages than other areas of the scratch tickets. In both studies, most participants reported ‘Play responsibly’ was easy to understand. But, most participants thought the message was not effective. Only 21–23% of participants understood that the odds of winning referred to all prizes.
