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Path to Play is a new piece of research and framework developed by the UKGC to understand better what “the typical consumer journey looks like, from the beginning of a gambling interaction to the end.” The intention is a greater exploration of gamblers’ perspectives, habits and influences. This builds on earlier work by the UKGC and continues the move away from the operator and regulator perspective. According to the UKGC, it allows them to “understand how consumers experience gambling, what factors influence them, where there may be greater risks for some gamblers and identify opportunities for intervention”.

Understanding more about players’ perspectives

The Path to Play study included 937 participants who had been gambling in the last 12 months. The sample included varying types of gamblers as ​​participants were a range of; ages, GB regions, socioeconomic groups, life stages, ethnicity and PGSI ratings. The Path to Play framework indicates key milestones and stages gamblers go through. It’s not a one-size-fits-all model, recognising that gamblers are not all the same and experiences differ. 

There are six phases included in the framework: 

1. Passive influences (underlying attitudes and perceptions of gambling), 
2. External triggers (nudges that prompt consideration of play), 
3. Internal impulses (motivation/reason to gamble), 
4. Active search (production selection process), 
5. Gaming experience (how playing goes),
6. Game outcome (impact of winning or losing). 

The steps are sequential, aside from external triggers (like bonuses and promos) and internal impulses (such as laying a bet during a match to increase excitement or visiting a casino to celebrate an event or pass the time), which can take place at any time.

According to the research, different factors influence players more or less at different stages. For example, special offers, direct communications and winning experiences significantly influence people to gamble, as do popular events like the World Cup or Premier League. Meanwhile, other factors, like advertising and sponsorships, are much less consequential and, therefore, categorised as “background noise”.

Problem gamblers highlighted

The research showed that problem gamblers were far more susceptible to influences and triggers throughout the framework stages than those categorised as not at-risk. This was especially true for passive influences, which can include day-to-day interactions, upbringing and past experiences, to name but a few.

The role of safer gambling messages

It also questioned whether safeguarding techniques worked, finding that responsible gambling messages and warnings had little impact despite being seen regularly. Spending limits are currently under-utilised, with only 7% of consumers employing them, despite many going into a gambling session with a budget in mind.

What does Path to Play mean for the gambling industry?

The study aims to assist the UKGC in creating new policies and initiatives to better address problem gambling and the industry on the whole through a better understanding of the complete journey gamblers take and what influences their behaviour. This is a commendable attempt by the UKGC to prioritise understanding players and what makes them tick. Moreover, it’s only through research like this that operators and regulators better know what safeguards work and what support players need.

In light of more recent third-party research, such as GambleAware’s commissioned Patterns of Play study, which showed that participation, spending and harm of gaming products are disproportionately concentrated in the most deprived areas of Great Britain, ) Path to Play’s qualitative, quantitative and longer-term research adds essential colour to understanding such findings. The research also compliments overall participation statistics which suggest that while slot and other casino games are less prevalent than betting, the number of problem gamblers using these games is more than double. Online slots also see the highest loss per player and are the most produced type of casino game, as shown by the number of new slots released every month. What’s more, in a time when the UK is undergoing a crisis of living costs, coupled with the pandemic’s longer-term effects, understanding what drives and influences different players is critical to creating effective regulation.

The implications of the research are not yet clear, and they come at a time when the UK is already in the process of concluding a new white paper (part of the Gambling Review, which will update gambling laws for the modern industry and is expected to cover both affordability checks and mandatory player budgets). However, as Path to Play is fresh off the think tank, it’s a little late to be taken into account in the white paper, which is expected to be released within weeks. Although interestingly, just days after Path to Play was released and ahead of the white paper, the CEO of the UKGC issued a warning to operators regarding higher levels of expected compliance and consumer protection within the industry. What remains to be seen is how often the UKGC will undertake Path to Play surveys and what practical implications the results will have for policy, safeguards and operator LCCPs.

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