New study of self-selected betting limits in online casinos

For the investigation, researchers worked with players who are registered with brands of the Kindred Group and have set limits there.

The initiators of the study from Nottingham Trent University are aware that approximately 5% of gamers have a problem with gambling in the form of problem gambling or gambling addiction.

For the new study on the use of betting limits, the research team evaluated data from 49,560 players who are registered with brands of the Kindred Group and have paid in at least once. As a result, only active players were considered.

Researchers Michael Auer, Niklas Hopfhartner and Mark D. Griffith were in charge.

How was the study on the betting limit structured?

The data sets were given to the researchers in anonymous form. Among the 49,560 players, 45,000 were male (around 90%) and 4,560 female (10%). The researchers were only given information on the age, gender and nationality of the players. The information from 7 countries was evaluated in the study. These included Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The 49,560 players were divided into 10 groups for further investigation according to their total gambling stakes in the investigation period. Group 1 consisted of players with the lowest bets and group 10 consisted of players with the highest bets. The groups were about the same size.

To take into account, the players had to deposit between January and March 2017 and between January and March 2018. The researchers were only given data on deposits, bets, betting limits and any limit adjustments. They had no further information about the actual person.

According to the authors, this is the first study that tries to illustrate the benefits of limits.

Use of betting limits by age and gender

49,560 players were examined. In the first investigation period, the players had played an average of 20 days. 50% of the players wagered 300 euros or more in the first investigation period. In 25% of the players, it was even more than 1,700 euros. The average age of the players was 33 years.

In the first period, only 649 players (1.31%) had set a voluntary betting limit. Group 1 with 0.2% of the players had only 9 players with betting limits. In group 10 it was 2.9%, or 144 players.

It had been found that in Group 1 the average bet was 8.20 euros among the players with no limit. For players with a limit, it was 6.30 euros. In group 10, the players with no limit had an average stake of 21,953 euros within three months. For players with a limit, it was 22,179 euros.

The study found that there were no significant differences between the age and gender players who chose a deposit limit and the players who chose no bet limit.

Benefit is shown when comparing intensive players between the years

Most of the differences between the game-intensive players would have been revealed only a year later by comparing the data. Among the more game-intensive players, it would have been shown that players with voluntary betting limits wasted significantly less money a year later than players without a limit. The evaluation says on the topic:

In groups 5, 8, 9 and 10, players who chose a deposit limit reduced the amount of money they wagered more than players who chose no deposit limit. However, the difference was only statistically significant in groups 8 and 10.

In the lower groups, on the other hand, an increase in the betting limit was observed. In Group 3, it rose from 2017 to 2018 on average from 66 euros to 159 euros, while the average stake for players without a previous limit only increased from 59 euros to 66 euros.

Conclusion: Limits help potential risk gamers

In the evaluation, the authors came to the conclusion that voluntary betting limits are particularly helpful for potential high-risk gamblers with regular and high bets to keep them from excessive bets. Therefore, most regulatory agencies are in favor of limit options for players.