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Applying behavioural insights to design better safer gambling tools Part 1: Anchoring

Author: The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) Published: March 2021
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Summary

This report by the Behavioural Insights Team, commissioned by GambleAware, examines how deposit limit tools for online gambling can be redesigned using behavioural science to help reduce risky gambling behaviours.

Topics covered

  • effectiveness of current deposit limit tools
  • impact of "anchoring" on deposit limit setting
  • testing redesigned deposit limit interfaces

Key findings

Removing high monetary anchors from deposit limit tools led customers to set limits nearly 50% lower on average. While uptake of the tools was low at 4%, those using the redesigned interfaces deposited less money overall.
Simple behavioural tweaks to these tools show promise for reducing financial harms from gambling without restricting choice.

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