Evaluating the generalizability of payment behavioral profiles across gambling brands

ABSTRACT

A gambler’s payment behavior – the deposit and withdrawal of funds – precedes and follows the act of gambling. Given this separation, the methods and results of machine learning models built at the payment-level could be better generalized across gambling formats. With this study, we empirically evaluated this notion by validating a cluster analysis across two independent datasets of digital wallet payment transaction records. Using a discovery dataset comprising 2,286 customers of a casino-focused Internet gambling brand, the k-means algorithm revealed five distinct payment profiles. Using a validation dataset comprising 5,580 customers of a sports-focused Internet gambling brand, we evaluated the generalizability of the discovery payment profiles. Specifically, we assessed validity by (1) clustering the validation dataset using the discovery method, (2) classifying the validation dataset into the discovery clusters, and (3) assessing the stability of cluster membership. Two large low risk clusters were validated across datasets. Three smaller potential risk clusters were only partially validated. Our findings suggest that gamblers’ payment behaviors are somewhat representative of their gambling behavior and may reflect dynamics of certain gambling formats. Stakeholders employing data science methods across gambling populations should be mindful of specific contexts and tailor analyses accordingly.

KEYWORDS:

• Cluster analysis
• machine learning
• digital payments
• responsible gambling
• behavioral tracking
• gambling

Acknowledgements

For the research conducted and participating parties in this study, all researchers declare that they have no conflict of interest. The study was fulfilled as part of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, International Gaming Institute’s Payments Research Collaborative. The Payments Research Collaborative is funded by donations from Global Payments and Sightline Payments LLC. These donations support the Payments Research Collaborative’s operations and do not include any contracted research deliverables. No donor entities were involved in the study design, data analysis nor interpretation, writing of the report, nor decisions related to journal submission.

During the past 5 years, the International Gaming Institute has received research funding from MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts Ltd, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, State of Nevada, Knowledge Fund, State of Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Aristocrat, Entain, and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. IGI runs the triennial research-focused International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, whose sponsors include industry, academic, and legal/regulatory stakeholders in gambling. A full list of sponsors for the most recent conference can be found at https://www.unlv.edu/igi/conference/17th/sponsors.

During the past 5 years, Kasra Ghaharian has received funding from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services for research on problem gambling.

During the past 5 years, Brett Abarbanel has received funding from the Manitoba Gambling Research Program, GP Consulting, Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Bermuda Casino Gambling Commission, the States of Nevada and California, Aristocrat Gaming, Life Works, GLG Consulting, MGM Resorts International, ProPress Germany, Scientific Affairs, and Caesars Entertainment. Dr. Abarbanel has received reimbursement for travel from Association Cluster Sport International, Kansspelautoriteit, Gamification Group (Finland), British Columbia Lottery Corporation, GambleAware, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Scientific Affairs, University of Salford, and National Collegiate Athletic Association (USA). During the time period, Dr. Abarbanel was a member of the Singapore National Council on Problem Gambling International Advisory Panel, for which she was reimbursed for her time.Kazem Taghva has no outside funding or competing interests to report.

During the past 5 years, Shane W. Kraus has received research funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, International Center for Responsible Gaming, European Science Foundation, National Science Center Poland, MGM Resorts International, Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (University of Nevada, Reno), Taylor Francis, Springer Nature, and Kindbridge Research Institute. Dr. Kraus also serves on the Nevada Advisory Council of Problem Gambling in Nevada.

Ashok Singh has no outside funding or competing interests to report.

During the past 5 years, Dr Bo Bernhard has been funded by the US–Japan Business Council, Wynn Resorts, Atomic 47/ePlata Banking, Las Vegas Sands, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services Governor’s Advisory Panel on Problem Gambling, the State of Nevada Knowledge Fund and MGM Resorts International. He has received travel and/or honoraria for presenting his research in more than two dozen countries.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Data. The are openly accessible at DOI: https://doi.org/10.17632/6xtgb5cx3z.1

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2023.2218460.

Additional information

Funding

No funding sources were declared by the authors in relation to this manuscript.

Notes on contributors

Kasra Ghaharian

Kasra Ghaharian is a Senior Research Fellow at the UNLV International Gaming Institute. He completed his M.S. and Ph.D. at UNLV. His research centers around data science applications in hospitality and gambling where he has studied topics including casino floor optimization, payments modernization, responsible gambling, and behavioral analytics.

Brett Abarbanel

Brett Abarbanel is Executive Director of the UNLV International Gaming Institute, with a joint affiliate appointment at University of Sydney, Australia. Dr. Abarbanel’s research covers Internet gambling policy and behavior, esports and gambling, operations and technology use, and responsible gambling and community relations.

Shane W. Kraus

Shane Kraus is Executive Director of the UNLV International Gaming Institute, with a joint affiliate appointment at University of Sydney, Australia. Dr. Abarbanel’s research covers Internet gambling policy and behavior, esports and gambling, operations and technology use, and responsible gambling and community relations.

Ashok Singh

Ashok Singh is the Chair of the Resorts, Gaming and Golf Management Department at UNLV. He is an applied statistics expert who received his Ph.D. from Purdue University. His research interests include statistical and machine learning applications in hospitality and gaming, medical research, public health, and civil and environmental engineering.

Bo Bernhard

Bo Bernhard is the Vice President of Economic Development for UNLV. In 2011, he was named the inaugural Research Director at the UNLV International Gaming Institute, and was awarded a dual professorship in hotel management and sociology.