Responsible gambling strategy information available on public-facing state lottery websites in the U.S

ABSTRACT

The lottery is the most widely available form of legal gambling in the US. However, there is relatively little work in promoting responsible gambling strategies by lottery providers. The current study applies five evidence-based responsible gambling strategies, to the responsible gambling information made available on 46 state lottery websites. The study employed a content analysis of the public-facing websites. The study found that a minority of the state lottery sites provided readily available information to the public for each of five strategies. Responsible gambling information was limited in most cases with several notable and informative exceptions. Findings are discussed in the context of public health education and harm reduction approaches in the provision of gambling products. The responsible gambling framework is premised on the notion of well-informed participants. Poor integration of responsible gambling strategies for the most widely available form of gambling points to the shortcomings of this framework in practice. Lottery operators should strive to increase their adoption of a greater range of responsible gambling approaches and increase the visibility of relevant information for potential participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Gambling industry
• lotteries
• responsible gambling
• public health
• Internet

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Funding sources

Data collection for this study was supported by the School of Social Work at Rutgers University.

Constraints on publishing

No constraints on publishing were declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Competing interests

MV declares no conflict of interest in the publication of this research.

In the past five years, LN has been a member of advisory boards or conducted research, training/presentations, grant reviews, and/or consultations funded by US or international, government, or government-related funding agencies, private firms, and industry operators. These include the State of New Jersey, Division of Gaming Enforcement & Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (U.S.); Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction (U.S.); Camelot (United Kingdom); Crown Casino Ltd. (Australia); British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC); Churchill Downs (U.S.); Aristocrat Pty. (Australia), New York Council on Problem Gambling (U.S.); Publiedit (Italy); National Council on Problem Gambling (U.S.).

Preregistration statement

No preregistration was declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript. The lead author was not aware of the preregistration practices of the journal.

Data availability statement

No data set was declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript. The data for the current study are publicly available on lottery websites.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark van der Maas

Mark van der Maas is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Rutgers University where he is a core faculty members of the Center for Gambling Studies.

Lia Nower

Lia Nower is a professor and director of the Center for Gambling Studies and the Addiction Counselor Training (ACT) Certificate Program at the Rutgers University School of Social Work.

Kyra Saniewski

Kyra Sansiewski is a student in the Masters of Social Work program at Rutgers University.