In this report, BIT’s Gambling Policy and Research Unit presents findings from a behavioural audit of the user journey and design of gambling management tools. We reviewed the websites and applications of ten popular gambling websites and apps in the UK, tracking the user journey from sign up through to navigating to the safer gambling pages and setting up tools. The aim was to identify relevant barriers and enablers to engagement with tools, and to provide recommendations on how to improve tool uptake.
This work builds on our previous behavioural risk audit of gambling platforms, with a specific focus on user access to gambling management information and tools. The report also provides evidence-based recommendations for gambling operators and regulators to consider, to improve the uptake and effective use of tools. The key findings include:
- Tool design and offering was inconsistent across platforms. Different websites and apps offered different sets of tools, and their functionalities (e.g. regular vs net deposit limits) and designs (e.g. drop down menus vs free text boxes) often differed too.
- Gambling management information was hard to find on some platforms. The design and placement of links to gambling management pages were inconsistent across platforms: some were salient, but others lacked contrast, were small and located at the bottom of the home page. Accessing tool-specific pages involved several steps.
- Tool designs often included barriers preventing users from taking up or effectively engaging with the tool. For example, tool pages were text-heavy and financial limit tools offered high limit options. Some operators used better designs, such as grouping tools visually.
- Most platforms did not send any communications about gambling management, and users did not receive reminders when approaching set limits.
- Language used on gambling management and tool pages often focused on users’ individual responsibility rather than operators’ in supporting healthy gambling.
Please do get in touch at gambling@bi.team if you would like to discuss this further.
