Rewarding the use of responsible gambling tools can increase willingness to use the tools and attitudinal loyalty

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Author(s): Hollingshead, Samantha J. ; Wohl, Michael J. A.

Journal: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction

Year Published: 2022

Date Added: November 11, 2022

The researchers did two studies. The aim was to examine whether being rewarded for using responsible gambling tools would encourage casino loyalty programme members to be (a) more willing to use the tools and (b) have higher attitudinal loyalty (i.e., greater identification and satisfaction with the casino). In the first study, the researchers surveyed 242 casino loyalty programme members in the USA. They found that the members who were more willing to use a money limit setting tool if they were rewarded had higher attitudinal loyalty. In the second study, the researchers did an experimental study. Participants who were told a casino was going to reward the use of a money limit setting tool were more willing to use the tool. In turn, this increased their attitudinal loyalty.

Citation: Hollingshead, S. J., & Wohl, M. J. A. (2022). Loyalty program rewards increases willingness to use responsible gambling tools and attitudinal loyalty. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00905-y

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-022-00905-y

Keywords: customer loyalty ; gambling ; play management tools ; responsible gambling

Topics: Gambling Resources ; Information for Operators

Conceptual Framework Factors: Environment - Responsible Gambling ; Gambling Environment

Study Design: Descriptive: Survey

Geographic Coverage: United States of America

Study Population: Adults who were members of an American casino loyalty programme that offers responsible gambling tools, had never use the available responsible gambling tools, had gambled over $100 in the past 12 months, and were not currently seeking nor had never sought gambling treatment (n = 242 for study 1; n = 208 for study 2). Participants in the first study were mostly male (56.6%). On average, participants were 38.7 years old. The average score of disordered gambling symptomatology was 4.23 on the PGSI, suggesting a moderate level of disordered gambling. In the second study, more participants were male (53.4%) than female. The average score of disordered gambling symptomatology was 5.58, suggesting a moderate level of problem gambling severity.

Sampling Procedure: In both studies, the researchers used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to recruit participants. Inclusion criteria was the same for both studies. Participants had to live in the USA. They could not be seeking nor could they have previously sought treatment for their gambling. Participants had to be members of an American casino loyalty program and had gambled over $100 in the past 12 months. Participants had to note that their casino offers them access to responsible gambling tools through their loyalty program and that they had never used the tools.

Study Funding:

The researchers did not declare any specific funding sources for this study.