Gambling Act review

Older adults' perceptions of the risks associated with contemporary gambling environments: Implications for public health policy and practice

INTRODUCTION

Rapid changes in the Australian gambling environment have amplified the risks for gamblers and pose significant threats to public health. Technological advances, saturation of marketing, and the embedding of gambling in sport have all contributed to significant changes in the gambling risk environment. Older adults have witnessed the changes to the way gambling is provided and promoted in public spaces, but little is known about how these changes have shaped the way they conceptualize the risks associated with gambling.

METHOD

Guided by critical qualitative inquiry, semi structured interviews were conducted with 40 Australian adults aged 55 years and older, who had gambled at least once in the last 12 months. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to interpret the data.

RESULTS

Participants discussed gambling environments in Australia and how they had changed through the proliferation of gambling products, environments, and opportunities; the risks posed through the embedding of gambling in community and media environments; the role of technology in gambling environments; and the role of marketing and promotions in the changing gambling environments. Participants recognized that these factors had contributed to gambling environments becoming increasingly risky over time. However, despite the perception of increased risk, many participants had engaged with new gambling technologies, products, and environments.

DISCUSSION

This research supports the adoption of public health responses that include consideration of the environmental, commercial, and political factors that may contribute to risky gambling environments.

Regulating Gambling-Like Video Game Loot Boxes: a Public Health Framework Comparing Industry Self-Regulation, Existing National Legal Approaches, and Other Potential Approaches

Purpose of Review

Loot boxes are gambling-like monetisation mechanics in video games that are purchased for opportunities to obtain randomised in-game rewards. Gambling regulation is increasingly being informed by insights from public health. Despite conceptual similarities between loot boxes and gambling, there is much less international consensus on loot box regulation. Various approaches to regulating loot boxes are reviewed via a public health framework that highlights various trade-offs between individual liberties and harm prevention.

Recent Findings

Many countries have considered regulation, but as yet only a few countries have taken tangible actions. Existing regulatory approaches vary greatly. More restrictively, Belgium has effectively ‘banned’ paid loot boxes and prohibits their sale to both children and adults. In contrast, more liberally, China only requires disclosure of the probabilities of obtaining potential rewards to provide transparency and perhaps help players to make more informed purchasing decisions. Most other countries (e.g., the UK) have adopted a ‘wait-and-watch’ approach by neither regulating loot box sales nor providing any dedicated consumer protection response. Industry self-regulation has also been adopted, although this appears to elicit lower rates of compliance than comparable national legal regulation.

Summary

Many potential public health approaches to loot box regulation, such as expenditure limits or harm-reducing modifications to loot box design (e.g., fairer reward structures), deserve further attention. The compliance and clinical benefits of existing interventions (including varying degrees of regulation, as adopted by different countries, and industry self-regulation) should be further assessed. The current international variation in loot box regulation presents opportunities to compare the merits of different approaches over time.

Women's perceptions of strategies to address the normalisation of gambling and gambling-related harm

OBJECTIVE

Research has demonstrated that gambling is becoming increasingly normalised for women. As limited research has sought to understand women's perspectives on this issue, we sought women's opinions about the factors that may contribute to the normalisation of gambling for women, and the strategies that may counter this normalisation.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 41 women in young and middle adulthood, aged 20-40 years.

RESULTS

Participants suggested that gambling was normal for women because gambling environments had been designed to appeal to women, newer technologies had removed the stigma of attending physical venues, and the growing equality and independence of women. To de-normalise gambling, women suggested addressing the influential role of marketing, designing new public education strategies, addressing the availability and accessibility of gambling, and restricting engagement with gambling products.

CONCLUSION

This study highlighted women's perceptions of strategies to address the normalisation of gambling and the importance of providing risk information paired with broader policy reform and prevention initiatives to address the range of determinants that normalise gambling for women.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

Involving women in advocacy and understanding their perspectives is important in developing relevant public health responses to the normalisation of gambling for women.

Young people in Australia discuss strategies for preventing the normalisation of gambling and reducing gambling harm

Background

The normalisation of gambling for young people has received considerable recent attention in the public health literature, particularly given the proliferation of gambling marketing aligned with sport. A range of studies and reports into the health and wellbeing of young people have recommended that they should be consulted and engaged in developing public health policy and prevention strategies. There are, however, very few opportunities for young people to have a say about gambling issues, with little consideration of their voices in public health recommendations related to gambling. This study aimed to address this gap by documenting young people’s perceptions about strategies that could be used to counter the normalisation of gambling and prevent gambling related harm.

Methods

This study took a critical qualitative inquiry approach, which acknowledges the role of power and social injustice in health issues. Qualitative interviews, using a constructivist approach, were conducted with 54 young people (11–17 years) in Australia. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to interpret the data.

Results

Five overall strategies were constructed from the data. 1) Reducing the accessibility and availability of gambling products; 2) Changing gambling infrastructure to help reduce the risks associated with gambling engagement; 3) Untangling the relationship between gambling and sport; 4) Restrictions on advertising; and 5) Counter-framing in commercial messages about gambling.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that young people have important insights and provide recommendations for addressing factors that may contribute to the normalisation of gambling, including strategies to prevent gambling related harm. Young people hold similar views to public health experts about strategies aimed at de-normalising gambling in their local communities and have strong opinions about the need for gambling to be removed from sport.