First seven days of gambling activity after account registration predict future high-risk gambling behaviour

Online gambling has increased significantly over the past 20 years. In contrast to land-based (e.g., casino) gambling, online gambling allows the tracking of player data. Online gambling operators have access to information about various gambling characteristics, including amount of money and time spent gambling, and number of monetary deposits per gambling session. This study examined whether player tracking data within the first week of registration on an online gambling website could predict future high-risk gambling in the 90 days afterwards. The researchers had access to a large dataset from a European online gambling operator.

The results suggested that various characteristics (e.g., age, gender, number of deposits, and amount of money deposited) were associated with future high-risk gambling. The researchers concluded that future high-risk gambling can be predicted based on the information collected during the first week after registering with an online gambling operator. This study has implications for the development of preventive measures for online gambling websites. It also suggests a need to monitor gambling behaviour at an early stage to prevent problem gambling.

See the two-page plain language article summary Can the first seven days of gambling activity after account registration predict future high-risk gambling behaviour? in Greo's Evidence Centre.