Online slots can use deceptive tactics that increase the risk of gambling harms, including losses disguised as wins (LDWs) which are associated with celebratory sound effects. Although regulators in the United Kingdom have banned this practice, it is unknown how well operators are following the regulation.
In the first study, the researchers carried out an environmental scan to examine the use of sound effects across 26 popular online slot products. Contrary to regulation, 18 products used sound effects that were judged as positive following LDWs. In a second study, 400 adults who had gambled using online slots completed a listening task, which asked them to rate the sounds from the first study along with sounds from non-gambling contexts. On average, participants rated the sounds following less-than-stake returns as positive. These findings indicate that the current ban on the use of celebratory sound effects for LDWs is not being observed by operators.
