Understanding people’s reasons for engaging with responsible gambling advisors and what they think about the interaction

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Author(s): Gaudett, Gray E. ; Davis, Christopher G. ; Tabri, Nassim ; Wohl, Michael J. A.

Journal: Addiction Research & Theory

Year Published: 2025

Date Added: September 04, 2025

The purpose of this study was to understand why people engage with responsible gambling (RG) programming. The researchers surveyed people who had an RG relevant interaction with a GameSense Advisor at one of three casinos in Massachusetts, United States. The responses from 254 participants were analyzed. The researchers grouped participants into three classes based on the reasons they interacted with an Advisor.

The first group was called ‘Comprehensive Information Seekers’ (31%) because they endorsed almost all reasons for interacting with an Advisor. The second group was called ‘RG Curious’ because they mostly wanted to learn about RG (43%). The third group was ‘Externally Inspired’ who mostly interacted with an Advisor because the Advisor approached them or because they wanted free giveaways/swag. Comprehensive Information Seekers showed lower levels of personal responsibility and had more symptoms of problem gambling compared to the Externally Inspired group. The Externally Inspired group reported a less positive outcome from an interaction with an Advisor than the other two groups.

Citation: Gaudett, G. E., Davis, C. G., Tabri, N., & Wohl, M. J. A. (2025). Gaining GameSense: The antecedents and consequences of interacting with responsible gambling advisors. Addiction Research & Theory. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2025.2507778

Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2025.2507778

Keywords: casino gambling ; gambling ; GameSense ; player education ; positive play ; safer gambling

Conceptual Framework Factors: Environment - Responsible Gambling ; Resources - Harm Reduction, Prevention, and Protection ; Environment - Low-Risk Limits ; Gambling Environment ; Gambling Resources

Response Rate: 10%

Study Design: Descriptive: Survey

Geographic Coverage: United States of America, Massachusetts

Study Population: Individuals (N=254) who recently interacted with a GameSense advisor at one of three casinos in Massachusetts

Sampling Procedure: GameSense advisors at one of the three Massachusetts casinos invited people to participate in the study after a demonstration or exchange interaction with them. Potential participants who were interested were given a business card containing a QR code linking to the survey. Data collection occurred between March 21, 2023, and July 19, 2023.

Study Funding:

This study was funded by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.