Behavioural market design can be used to recalibrate and better align operator incentives to create a safer, more enjoyable, and more competitive market.
In this work by the Gambling Policy & Research Unit, we took the first steps in designing a behaviourally informed market, undertaking research into what pieces of information are important to gamblers when choosing a site on which to gamble. The aim of this research was to identify information that gamblers feel is important but is not currently readily available or accessible to them such as the ease of making withdrawals from accounts with an operator. It is hoped that this information can then be made available to consumers and thereby introduce greater market transparency, leveraging accountability to shift firms’ behaviours.
People who gamble told us that they favour price, value and customer service information when choosing an operator, but overall there were only small differences between the 16 factors we researched. We found that most people are not loyal to a particular operator, with many using five or more operators in the last six months. This suggests that measures to introduce greater transparency to the market may be effective as gamblers are willing to switch between operators.
