Responsible gambling staff training in land-based venues: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Multiple jurisdictions legislate responsible gambling staff training for providers of land-based gambling products or include it within the industry codes of conduct. Current training programs appear to focus on basic compliance with regulatory requirements. Although programs contain problem gambling information, staff are required to respond only when approached by individuals seeking assistance. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines and preregistration protocols was undertaken to evaluate existing evidence of staff training program effectiveness and to assess the quality of the selected studies. 1,306 articles were identifiedbased gambling venues characterized by face-to-face contact with gambling customers. Results showed several methodological weaknesses in the studies which precluded any substantive conclusions regarding the effectiveness of training programs in reducing gambling-related fell short in providing practical skills necessary to deal with difficult situations. These findings imply that staff training programs should incorporate practical skill development for the proactive management of individuals exhibiting behavioral indicators of problem gambling Multiple jurisdictions legislate responsible gambling staff training for providers of land-based gambling products or include it within the industry codes of conduct. Current training programs appear to focus on basic compliance with regulatory requirements. Although programs contain problem gambling information, staff are required to respond only when approached by individuals seeking assistance. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines and preregistration protocols was undertaken to evaluate existing evidence of staff training program effectiveness and to assess the quality of the selected studies. 1,306 articles were identified. 22 met the inclusion criteria of staff training programs in land-based gambling venues characterized by face-to-face contact with gambling customers. Results showed several methodological weaknesses in the studies which precluded any substantive conclusions regarding the effectiveness of training programs in reducing gambling-related harm. The findings did suggest that training programs provided some benefit to staff members overall and are reflected in the positive influence on staff confidence in assisting individuals showing signs of harm. However, programs fell short in providing practical skills necessary to deal with difficult situations. These findings imply that staff training programs should incorporate practical skill development for the management of individuals exhibiting behavioral indicators of problem gambling.

KEYWORDS:

• responsible gambling
• training
• gambling
• problem gambling
• education

Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to thank Kristin Economou for the support preparing the manuscript for submission.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The authors declare that they have no competing interests or conflicts of interest relating to the submitted manuscript.

Declarations: First Author

Michelle Beckett has received salary and conference travel costs based on the deed of gift provided by ClubsNSW. No constraints on publishing exist with the submitted manuscript.

Declarations: Second Author

Brittany Keen has received research funding directly and indirectly from The New South Wales Government, Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, the Gaming Technologies Association, Dooleys Lidcombe Catholic Club, ClubsNSW, and the National Association for Gambling Studies. All research was conducted with the aim of improving our understanding of the phenomenology of gambling, its associated harms, and methods to reduce harm. No constraints on publishing exist with the submitted manuscript.

Declarations: Third Author

Dr Douglas J. Angus has no funding declarations or conflicts of interest to declare. No constraints on publishing exist with the submitted manuscript.

Declarations: Fourth Author

Dylan Pickering has received research funding from the New South Wales Government, ClubsNSW, Gambling Research Exchange Ontario (GREO), and the National Association for Gambling Studies (NAGS). No constraints on publishing exist with the submitted manuscript.

Declarations: Fifth Author

Professor Alex Blaszczynski, for the period 2015 – 2018, has conducted research funded directly by Australian or international government, or government-related funding agencies, and industry operators. These include Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, ClubsNSW, Dooleys Club Lidcombe, Aristocrat Leisure Industries, Australian Communications Media Authority, Gaming Technologies Association, Gambling Research Australia, Responsible Wagering Australia, Commonwealth Bank, NSW Department of Trade and Investment (NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing), La Loterie Romande (Switzerland), Camelot (United Kingdom), La Française des Jeux (France), Loto-Quebec (Canada), and National Lottery (Belgium), and the National Association for Gambling Studies.

He has received honorariums from Manitoba Gambling Research Program and GambleAware (formerly UK Responsible Gambling Trust) for grant reviews, and royalties from several publishers for books and book chapters. He has also received travel and accommodation expenses from Leagues Clubs, Gambling Research Exchange Ontario, USA National Council on Problem Gambling, Japan Medical Society for Behavioural Addiction, Le Comité d’organisation Congrès international sur les troubles addictifs, Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, and New Horizons (British Columbia Lottery Corporation to attend conferences and meetings).

All professional dealings have been conducted with the aim of enhancing responsible gambling and harm minimization policies and practices, training counsellors in the treatment interventions, and advancing our understanding of the psychology of gambling.

No constraints on publishing exist with the submitted manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by ClubsNSW through a gift of deed. ClubsNSW did not have any influence in the design methodology of this research or any input into the interpretation of the results.

Notes on contributors

Michelle Beckett

Michelle Beckett is a researcher at the Gambling Treatment and Resaerch Clinic at the University of Sydney. Her research interests include program development and evaluation as it pertains to gambling venues and the impact of decisional heuristics on gambling behavior.

Brittany Keen

Brittany Keen is a researcher at the Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic at the University of Sydney. Brittany’s research interests include public education about gambling games, decision making psychology, and new and emerging technologies and their role in the field of behavioral addictions, particularly amongst young people.

Douglas J. Angus

Douglas J. Angus is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Bond University. His research has focused on how neuroscience and psychophysiology inform theories of motivation and emotion. His research has examined the time-course of neural activity involved in reward anticipation and consumption and how these processes interact with anger and aggression. His current research agenda encompasses five broad areas: temporally and psychologically discrete aspects of reward processing; anger and its association with positive emotional states; self-regulation and decision making in emotional contexts; meta-cognition about affective states; frontal cortical-subcortical imbalances, cognitive function, and healthy aging.

Dylan Pickering

Dylan Pickering is a researcher with the Gambling Treatment & Research Clinic at the University of Sydney co-directed by Professor Alex Blaszczynski and Associate Professor Sally Gainsbury. Dylan’s research interests include emerging gambling technologies, the conceptualisation and measurement of recovery in Gambling Disorder, in addition to the role of self-exclusion in recovery.

Alex Blaszczynski

Alex Blaszczynski BA, MA, Dip. Psych., PhD, MAPSs, is the co-director of the Gambling Treatment Clinic at Sydney University, and a clinical psychologist by training. In 1995, Dr. Blaszczynski received the American Council of Problem Gambling Directors Award, in 2004, the National Center for Responsible Gambling senior investigator’s research award, in 2013, the NSW Government’s Responsible Gambling Fund’s excellence award for contributions to gambling, and in 2014, the American National Council on Responsible Gambling’s Lifetime Research Achievement award. He is Editor-in-Chief, International Gambling Studies.