York St John University, York, UK.
University of Derby, Derby, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2019 Jun 26;19(1):822. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7191-5.
'Pop-up' warning messages have potential as a Responsible Gambling tool, but many warning messages in the literature are generic. The present study simulated digital roulette to compare the effectiveness of expenditure-specific, generic and control messages, during online roulette.
Forty-five casual gamblers participated in a laboratory setting. Gambles were 'rigged' such that participants suffered a net loss. Total 'play money' wagers from individual bets after the presentation of the messages were measured.
Expenditure-specific warning messages demonstrated significant reductions in wager amounts compared with other message types - Generic (p = .035) and Control messages (p < .001). No significant differences were found between Generic and Control messages (p > .05). Thus expenditure-specific warning messages about current losses were more effective than generic messages for reducing expenditure.
Expenditure-specific warning messages exhibit potential for ameliorating potentially harmful gambling behaviour. Expenditure-specific messages should be tested in a broader range of gambling contexts to examine their generalizability and potential for implementation in the gambling industry.
“弹出”警告信息作为负责任博彩的工具具有一定的潜力，但文献中的许多警告信息都是通用的。本研究模拟了数字轮盘赌，以比较特定支出、通用和控制信息在在线轮盘赌中的效果。
45 名休闲赌客在实验室环境中参与了研究。通过“操纵”赌局，使参与者遭受净损失。在呈现信息后，从个人投注中测量总“玩钱”赌注。
与其他信息类型（通用消息，p=0.035 和控制消息，p<0.001）相比，特定支出的警告信息显著降低了赌注金额。通用消息和控制消息之间没有发现显著差异（p>0.05）。因此，关于当前损失的特定支出警告消息在减少支出方面比通用消息更有效。
特定支出的警告消息显示出改善潜在有害赌博行为的潜力。应在更广泛的赌博环境中测试特定支出的消息，以检验其普遍性和在赌博行业实施的潜力。
