Do advertising and promotions for online gambling increase gambling consumption? An exploratory study

Nerilee Hing, Lorraine Cherney, Alex Blaszczynski, Sally M. Gainsbury and Dan I. Lubman

International Gambling Studies, 2014, vol. 14, issue 3, 394-409

Abstract: It remains unclear if gambling advertising and promotion increase demand for, and consumption of, gambling, or only affect market share distributions without increasing total consumption. Although this has been investigated in relation to land-based gambling, studies have not examined how such marketing influences behavioural patterns of Internet gamblers. The aim of this study, therefore, was to explore ways in which advertising and promotion of Internet gambling may contribute to increased consumption of gambling. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 50 Internet gamblers drawn from the general population, and 31 treatment-seeking Internet gamblers. In-depth analysis of interview transcripts revealed limited reported effectiveness of advertising and promotions in converting non-gamblers to Internet gamblers. However, general population gamblers reported occasionally gambling more than intended (increased consumption) in response to free bet and deposit offers. A proportion of treatment-seekers reported increased gambling, particularly associated with bonus offers that required matched deposits and gambling before any winnings could be collected. Advertisements and promotions invoked urges to gamble among treatment-seeking gamblers, and appeared to some participants to be designed to target individuals who had taken steps to limit or cease gambling. Findings provide preliminary evidence of Internet gambling promotional activities increasing overall consumption amongst a subgroup of gamblers.

Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14459795.2014.903989 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:intgms:v:14:y:2014:i:3:p:394-409

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RIGS20

DOI: 10.1080/14459795.2014.903989

Access Statistics for this article

International Gambling Studies is currently edited by Katie Donnelly, David Marshall, Bronwyn Stuart, Alex Blaszczynski and Jan McMillen

More articles in International Gambling Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().