The use of personalized messages on wagering behavior of Swedish online gamblers: An empirical study

Abstract Over the past few years, online gambling has become a more commonplace leisure time activity. However, for a small minority, online gambling can become problematic. Consequently, the gambling industry has started to acknowledge their role in player protection and harm minimization and some online gambling companies have introduced responsible gambling tools such as targeted personalized messages as a way of helping players stay in control. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of targeted messages among 7134 Swedish online gamblers who played at one of five sites within the ComeOn Group between July 2019 and January 2020. The results showed that online gamblers receiving personalized feedback (i.e., feedback concerning their own actual gambling behavior in the form of text messages) wagered significantly less money on both the day they read a personalized message and seven days after they read a personalized message. The data support the results found by previous laboratory and real-world studies showing that targeted personalized information can be an effective tool for online gambling companies to reduce gambling expenditure among their clientele. The findings will also be of interest to other stakeholders including gambling regulators, policymakers, and researchers.

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