Michael Auer

neccton

The prevention of problematic online gambling behavior is a topic of major interest for regulators, the gambling industry, and researchers. Many gambling operators approach this issue by using responsible gambling tools. Among such tools, mandatory play breaks are used to interrupt long online gambling sessions, providing "cooling off" periods for...

Player protection has become an important area for the gambling industry over the past decade. A number of gambling regulators now require gambling operators to interact with customers if they suspect they are gambling in a problematic way. The present study provided insight on the impact of personalized feedback interventions (PFIs) on subsequent...

In order to protect gamblers, gambling operators have introduced a wide range of responsible gambling (RG) tools. Mandatory play breaks (i.e., forced termination of a gambling session) and personalized feedback about the gambling expenditure are two RG tools that are frequently used. While the motivation behind mandatory play breaks is simple (i.e....

Social responsibility and duty of care have become major cornerstones for gambling operators. This has led to the introduction of many different responsible gambling tools such as limit-setting, mandatory play breaks, and personalized messaging. In the present study, the authors were given access to two secondary datasets provided by a German onlin...

Protecting gamblers from problematic gambling behavior is a major concern for clini-cians, researchers, and gambling regulators. Most gambling operators offer a range of so-called responsible gambling tools to help players better understand and control their gambling behavior. One such tool is voluntary self-exclusion, which allows players to block...

In recent years researchers have emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms as a tool to detect problem gambling online. AI algorithms require a training dataset to learn the patterns of a prespecified group. Problem gambling screens are one method for the collection of the necessary input data to train AI algorithms. The...

In recent years, account-based player tracking data have been utilized as a potential tool to identify problem gambling online and associated markers of harm. One established marker of harm among problem gamblers is chasing losses, and chasing losses is a key criterion for gambling disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic...

Gambling, like many other leisure activities, has been greatly affected by the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The present study investigated the behavior of a sample of online casino gamblers before and after the COVID-19 pandemic was announced in March 2020. The authors were given access to behavioral tracking data of a repres...

Structural characteristics of games have been regarded as important aspects in the possible development of problematic gambling. The most important factors along with individual susceptibility and risk factors of the individual gambler are the structural characteristics such as the speed and frequency of the game (and more specifically event freque...

Player protection and harm minimization have become increasingly important in the gambling industry along with the promotion of responsible gambling (RG). Among the most widespread RG tools that gaming operators provide are limit-setting tools that help players limit the amount of time and/or money they spend gambling. Research suggests that limit-...

In recent years, various novel responsible gambling (RG) tools have been implemented to aid harm-minimization. One such RG tool has been the implementation of enforced mandatory play breaks. Despite many responsible gambling operators using mandatory play breaks, only three previous studies have examined their efficacy and the findings were mixed....

A recent review by Delfabbro and King (2021) published in International Gambling Studies examined the efficacy of voluntary versus mandatory limit-setting in gambling. The review examined 25 empirical studies (18 on voluntary limit-setting and seven on mandatory limit-setting). In this short commentary, we outline a few other thoughts and observati...

Online gambling has become increasingly popular over the past decade as has research using behavioural tracking (player account) data. To date, there is no study that has empirically investigated the effects of responsible gambling tools on loyalty. In the present study, the effect of voluntary limit-setting on player loyalty was evaluated over tim...

In this study, the differences in behavior between two groups of online gamblers were investigated. The first group comprised individuals who played casino games, and the second group comprised those who bet on sports events. The focal point of the study was on problem gambling, and the objective was to identify and quantify both common and distinc...

Previous research suggests that the presence of other gamblers in a gambling venue intensifies individual gambling behavior. To study such potential social facilitation among gamblers, we conduct a large-scale analysis of more than one million gambling sessions using player tracking data of the Norwegian gambling operator Norsk Tipping. In particul...

Despite the popularity of horserace gambling around the world, there is surprisingly little in-depth research on the topic. Additionally, studies suggest that motives for gambling are an important proximal factor related to problematic gambling among young people and adults. The present study investigated reasons for gambling among Norwegian horse...

The novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had major impacts on most societies worldwide including the cancelation and postponement of sports events. This has had a major impact on the sports betting industry. The present study is first to investigate the behavior of a sample of online sports bettors before and after COVID- 19 measures were...

The novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had major impacts on most societies worldwide including the cancelation and postponement of sports events. This has had a major impact on the sports betting industry. The present study is first to investigate the behavior of a sample of online sports bettors before and after COVID-19 measures were...

Many companies offer tools to help their clientele gamble more responsibly. Such tools include pre-commitment facilities where the gambler can set voluntary time and money limits. However, empirical evidence is lacking as to whether voluntary or mandatory limit setting has any positive impact on subsequent gambling behaviour and whether such measur...

Online gambling has become increasingly popular but for a small minority of players can be problematic (∼5 percent). Many socially responsible online gambling operators have introduced responsible gambling tools to help their players stay in control of their gambling such as monetary limit-setting (in which gamblers predetermine the amount of money...

Background and aims: Responsible gambling (RG) tools and initiatives have been introduced by social RG operators as a means to help prevent problem gambling. One such initiative is the use of mandatory play breaks (i.e., forced session terminations). Recommendations by RG experts for gambling operators to implement mandatory play breaks appear to...

Background: Over the past two decades, problem gambling has become a public health issue and research from many countries indicates that a small but significant minority of individuals are problem gamblers. In Norway, the prevalence of problem gambling among adults is estimated to be just less than 1%. To help minimize the harm from gambling, the...

Austria is an EU member state in central Europe with a long history in gambling. Data on gambling participation, the severity of gambling-related problems, and the acceptance of measures for the protection of gamblers were collected in Austria for the first time in 2009, some of which were replicated by Kalke et al. in 2015. The prevalence rate of...

Providing personalized feedback about the amount of money that gamblers have actually spent may—in some cases—result in cognitive dissonance due to the mismatch between what gamblers actually spent and what they thought they had spent. In the present study, the participant sample (N = 11,829) was drawn from a Norwegian population that had played at...

Many research findings in the gambling studies field rely on self-report data. A very small body of empirical research also suggests that when using self-report, players report their gambling losses inaccurately. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the differences between objective and subjective gambling spent data by comparing gambler’s...

Self-exclusion practices typically refer to the possibility for gamblers to voluntarily ban themselves from playing all (a selection of) games over a predetermined period. The period of exclusion can typically be chosen by the gambler although some operators have non-negotiable self-exclusion periods. Self-exclusion in both online sites and offline...

Responsible gambling tools (e.g., limit-setting tools, pop-up messages, and personalized feedback) have become increasingly popular as a way of facilitating players to gamble in a more responsible manner. However, relatively few studies have evaluated whether such tools actually work. The present study examined whether the use of three types of inf...

The promo􏰀on of responsible gambling (RG) and the preven􏰀on of problem gambling have become major topics in the gambling studies field. This has led to the introduc􏰀on of many RG and harm- minimisa􏰀on ini􏰀a􏰀ves. As gambling products become more technologically sophis􏰀cated, the same technological innova􏰀on is star􏰀ng to be used to facilitate the de...

Over the last few years, online gambling has become a more common leisure time activity. However, for a small minority, the activity can become problematic. Consequently, the gambling industry has started to acknowledge their role in player protection and harm minimization and some gambling companies have introduced responsible gambling tools as a...

In recent years, several member states of the European Union have established new online gambling regulations. Until recently, it was sufficient to hold an operating license at the company's headquarters (e.g., Malta, Gibraltar). However, in the European Union, it is now required that gaming operators need to apply for licenses at the players' coun...

Citation: Auer MM and Griffiths MD (2015) Testing normative and self-appraisal feedback in an online slot-machine pop-up in a real-world setting. Front. Psychol. 6:339. Over the last few years, there have been an increasing number of gaming operators that have incorporated on-screen pop-up messages while gamblers play on slot machines and/or online...

This brief commentary paper provides some further observations on research funding following the editorials by both Cassidy and Blaszczynski and Gainsbury. More specifically it examines (i) whether there is any fundamental difference between research funded by the gambling industry and consultancy funded by the gambling industry, (ii) the benefits...

Over the last few years, online gambling has become a more common leisure time activity. However, for a small minority, the activity can become problematic. Consequently, the gambling industry has started to acknowledge their role in player protection and harm minimization and some gambling companies have introduced responsible gambling tools as a...

In this paper, we provide a brief response to Braverman et al. (J Gambl Stud. doi: 10.1007/s10899-013-9428-z , 2013b) critique of our 'Theoretical Loss' metric as a measure of monetary gambling intensity (Auer and Griffiths in J Gambl Stud. doi: 10.1007/s10899-013-9376-7 , 2013a; Auer et al. in Gaming Law Rev Econ 16:269-273, 2012). We argue that '...

Certain gambling operators now provide social responsibility tools to help players gamble more responsibly. One such innovation is the use of pop-up messages that aim to give feedback to the players about the time and money they have thus far spent gambling. Most studies of this innovation have been conducted in laboratory settings, and although co...

Research into gambling has shown that irrational gambling-related cognitions linked to randomness and probabilities contribute to the initiation and maintenance of problematic gambling. A small body of empirical research has shown that educational programs about erroneous beliefs in gambling can successfully help change such cognitions. Studies hav...

Many recent studies of internet gambling-particularly those that have analysed behavioural tracking data-have used variables such 'bet size' and 'number of games played' as proxy measures for 'gambling intensity'. In this paper it is argued that the most stable and reliable measure for 'gambling intensity' is the 'theoretical loss' (a product of to...

Social responsibility in gambling has become a major issue for the gaming industry. The possibility for online gamblers to set voluntary time and money limits are a social responsibility practice that is now widespread among online gaming operators. The main issue concerns whether the voluntary setting of such limits has any positive impact on subs...

Many recent studies of internet gambling—particularly those that have analysed behavioural tracking data—have used variables such as ‘bet size’ and ‘number of games played’ as proxy measures for ‘gambling intensity.’ In this paper, it is argued that the best and most stable measure for Gambling Intensity is the ‘Theoretical Loss’ (a product of tota...

Although most people gamble occasionally for fun and pleasure, gambling brings with it inherent risks of personal and social harm. According to the most recent British Gambling Prevalence Survey there are ~350,000 problem gamblers in the UK which equates to just under 1% of the adult population (Wardle et al., 2011). Problem and pathological gambli...

A question that is often asked by policymakers is whether online gambling is more ‘dangerous’ or ‘harmful’ than offline gambling. The answer to this question depends on what the definitions are of ‘harmful’ or ‘dangerous’ or (more importantly) whether online gambling is more harmful or dangerous to particular kinds of people (e.g., problem gamblers...

Preliminary studies have shown that systemic beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (betaHCG) therapy alleviates endometriosis-related chronic pelvic pain. The underlying mechanism, however, is completely unknown. This study has investigated the dose-dependent alterations in the overall gene expression profile of endometriosis-derived stromal cells und...

To evaluate the local matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1), estrogen receptor (ER) alpha, and ERbeta protein expression in eutopic and dystopic tissue from patients with endometriosis and to compare the endometrial expression pattern in women with and without endometriosis. Immunohistochemical analysis of MMP-1, ERalpha, and ERbeta in paired samples...

We investigated the pattern of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) expression in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) and assessed its prognostic and potential functional relevance. LPL mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) from 55 CLL patients differed by 2 orders of magnitude between cases with mutated (N=28) or unmutated (N=27) I...