One in seven Irish gamblers prompted to gamble by operator messages and ads
A survey of 1,000 Irish adults who had gambled in the previous year has found that frequent operator messages and certain events played a role in their decision to gamble.
The research, published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) on Wednesday, comes as Ireland develops a regulatory framework under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024.
Four in five respondents had an online gambling account. Among account holders, 53% had more than one, while 44% of the full sample said they gambled both online and in person.
The sample was weighted by age, gender, region and social grade, but recruited from an existing online panel rather than a probability sample selected specifically for the study.
Notifications and advertisements influence gambling behaviour
Horses, sport and lotteries were among the most common activities associated with opening a first online account. However, 38% of respondents who initially opened an account to bet on horses or sport later used it for other products, including online casino games, slots, bingo or scratchcards.
Operator communications were also common. Nearly two-thirds of account holders said they received emails, 52% app notifications and 16% text messages. Around a quarter of those who received app alerts said they got them daily or more often.
About one in seven respondents said their most recent online gambling session followed an email, notification or gambling advertisement. Other reported influences included reminders of upcoming events, watching sport and feelings of boredom or stress.
Boredom or stress was cited as the reason for 16.4% of the most recent online gambling sessions, while 5.6% were attributed to attempts to recover previous losses.
Gambling interrupts family time and work, survey finds
Among online gamblers who had deposited money in the previous year, 70% described depositing as “very easy”. Around 57% said the same about withdrawing winnings. Of those who had closed an account, almost one in five rated the process as difficult.
Two-thirds of online gamblers said they placed at least one bet a week, compared with 48% of those who gambled in person.
Around one in five respondents said their latest session interrupted another activity. Work was most commonly displaced by online gambling, while family time was most often interrupted by in-person gambling.
Relatively few respondents said they started gambling because others were doing so.
Self-exclusion not the first choice
One in four respondents said they were trying to cut down or planned to do so. A third of that group said they were gambling as much as, or more than, they had a year earlier.
Willpower was the most commonly reported approach to reducing gambling, cited by 48% of those trying to cut back online and 63% of those looking to gamble less in person.
Notably, fewer than one in ten reported using self-exclusion.
Separate research cited by the ESRI estimated that one in 30 adults in Ireland experiences problem gambling, with a further one in five showing some evidence of gambling-related problems.
Legislation and a campaign
The report called for further scrutiny of how customers consent to notifications and stop receiving them, whether withdrawals and account closures are as accessible as deposits and registration, and whether movement into additional gambling products is associated with harm.
The ESRI researchers said the findings raise questions for the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) as it implements the 2024 Act. The legislation provides for measures including controls on marketing and operator communications, account limits, consumer safeguards and a centralised self-exclusion system.
The legislation, which is still awaiting full enactment, also imposes some of the strictest penalties in the European Union for permitting underage gambling activities. The GRAI was established last year to help usher in the bill.
Earlier this year, the GRAI initiated a national campaign aimed at helping parents and guardians recognise and respond to underage gambling.
The campaign followed research commissioned by the GRAI from the ESRI, which revealed that children who gamble are twice as likely to develop gambling-related problems in adulthood.
The research found that 64% of adults in the survey reported gambling before they turned 18. Gambling as a minor was associated with an 83%-87% increase in the likelihood of developing a gambling problem in later life.
It also found that those individuals with a parent who gambled were 80% more likely to have problems with gambling themselves.