Report
Exploring consumer journeys using gambling promotional offers and incentives
The Gambling Commission’s report on consumer interactions with online promotional offers and incentives.
3 - Summary of findings
Consumers are likely to be exposed to promotional offers on a frequent and recurring basis, with 9 in 10 of our quantitative respondents having received an offer in the last 4 weeks. 76 percent of respondents who received an offer went on to use the offer, with variation by offer type. Free spins and bets were most frequently received and used, with free spins 10 times more likely to be used than any other type of offer. Respondents generally perceived these offers to be without risk, defined by a lack of staking requirements that encouraged a “play now, think later” mindset. Marketing of free spins and bets as ‘daily offers’ can also lead to consumers believing such offers should be engaged with recurringly, and indeed these offers were frequently being used by our consumers.
Risk
Requirements to stake one’s own money is the key trigger to recognising higher risk, resulting in deposit-based offers, cashback rewards and sign-up offers showing lower up-take rates amongst our quantitative consumers compared to free spins and bets. Consumers use their own selection criteria to determine whether an offer is worth playing, based on their expected likelihood to meet wagering terms or staking requirements, and their previous experiences of winning or losing.
Promotional offers were seen as highly valued features within gambling, felt to be "on the gamblers' side". Consumers likened using offers to ‘finding the best deal’ as they would in other commercial sectors, believing gambling operators to be advertising their best odds to win their custom in a highly competitive market. Consumers felt valued through receiving promotional offers and that offers can even facilitate safer gambling practices by allowing prolonged gambling periods whilst staking less of their own money.
Our qualitative consumers contested the view that their use of offers could expose them to greater risk of gambling related harm. However, the effects of using promotional offers on their subsequent gambling did suggest there is some potential for heightened risk, which consumers may fail to recognise. Despite respondents recognising the following behaviours, they rarely connected them as being a direct result of engaging with promotional offers.
The urgency to meet wagering requirements within an allotted time can drive longer gambling sessions and consumers may engage with offers despite knowing wagering requirements are high and that they are unlikely to fulfil them. Wins from promotional offers were typically reinvested into placing more bets to improve consumers’ total return, rather than being cashed out.
Offers enable consumers to continue gambling beyond their usual stopping point, wherein their gambling budgets have been depleted. This can result in consumers therefore increasing their overall monthly gambling activity.
Offers can encourage riskier bets that individuals may not otherwise consider. This was due to the lack of staking requirements being viewed by consumers as a ‘free opportunity’ to win challenging bets with reduced personal investment, but our consumers didn’t always account for money they needed to deposit to meet future wagering terms.
In some cases, offers lead to consumers exhibiting gambling behaviour outside of their typical pattern or routine, resulting in them gambling at times they wouldn’t usually, when they perceived offers to have the best chance of yielding positive outcomes (in online casino games).
Types of gambling
The quantitative results showed that respondents tended to take part in multiple types of gambling. Throughout this report, we refer to their main type of gambling (that is, the product they engage with most regularly) as their ‘primary gambling type’, and gambling products they have more recently started to participate in as their ‘secondary gambling type’.
Promoting offers across different gambling activities may be exposing consumers to new gambling products they would otherwise not have considered using.
Initially, engagement in secondary gambling types is rationalised by consumers as a way of funding (or prolonging) their primary gambling type. A common example of this was a regular sports bettor engaging with a promoted free spin for a casino product, in the hope of winning a free bet or credit to use on sports betting. However, rewards gained from promotional offers may only be redeemable on specific gambling products outside of the consumers’ primary gambling type. As a result, some consumers were motivated to use their ‘free’ reward on these secondary gambling products which can result in continued engagement. Over time, consumers appeared to engage in secondary types of gambling even without the use of an offer.
Consumers appeared emotionally disconnected from their secondary gambling types, often lacking enjoyment, understanding, and control in the gambling they were participating in through cross-sold offers.
Offers seem to complicate a consumer’s ability to mentally account for losses if they engage with multiple gambling streams and create separate budgets for each. This can lead to consumers losing track of money they have personally invested versus ‘bonus balance’ money credited as part of promotional offer. This was most evident when consumers were required to subsequently stake their own money to meet a promotional offer's wagering terms, then struggled to determine how much money they have personally staked against how much they ultimately earned through the rewards of the offer being used.
Any future regulatory intervention in this space should consider consumers’ strong advocacy for these features, believing them to be a positive element of their gambling experience and failing to acknowledge the greater potential for risk, compared to their gambling behaviour without using a promotional offer.
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Last updated: 24 November 2023
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