Tempting Free Spins - Online and smartphone casino, slots and gambling app with English Sterling notes, money easily lost - BeGambleAware
Gambling apps more dangerous than FOBTs, study finds Authors say outdated laws fail to protect vulnerable users from smartphone gambling Smartphone gambling apps are more dangerous than fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) for people with addiction problems because opportunities to lose money are “just a tap away”, a study suggests. Gambling games on smartphones have surged in popularity in recent years, allowing high-stakes betting within the palm of its users’ hands, with video game-style play making them appear “harmless” and introductory offers providing incentives to sign up. Scrutiny of the gambling industry has been focused on fixed-odds betting terminals in high street bookmakers, leading the government to cut the maximum stake on the machines from £100 to £2, although this has yet to be implemented. However, smartphone gambling could be more problematic for people psychologically predisposed to addiction, given how the betting games can be accessed anywhere in the UK with an internet connection, according to academics. The study, published in the academic journal European Addiction Research, found that because users check their phones frequently throughout the day – referred to as ‘snacking’ – mobile gamblers tend to bet more often, even after suffering repeated losses. A person uses PayPal on a laptop Problem gamblers are using PayPal to spend up to £150,000 a day Read more A common design principle in mobile gaming, as this type of gambling is referred to, is that a mix of small wins, ‘near misses’ and losses encourage greater levels of engagement. Experts have previously warned that gambling companies use sophisticated techniques to ingrain their products in the lives of their users by creating psychological dependencies, nudging people into live gameplay through notifications, emails and other methods. Notwithstanding the euphoria of winning, this can activate mechanisms in the brain akin to the effect of cocaine
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