UK gambling harms charity GamCare has posed a serious question about the increasing gamification across services outside of gambling – is harm prevention keeping pace with the trends?
As part of its inaugural edition of Signals Insight, the charity analysed a total of 2,536 anonymised webchat transcripts with the National Gambling Helpline spread across 20 days.
While noting that the findings are not a measure of prevalence, GamCare pointed to three recurring harm themes – early gambling exposure begins through family and friends, lower-intensity activity escalating to riskier play, and exposure to gambling-like mechanics that sit outside of regulated gambling, with this year’s Signals focusing on the latter.
According to the charity, adjacent products can be seen across video gaming, shopping or trading, but some of the online features can feel very close to the ones seen in gambling. Relevant features include anything from points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, to any type of rewards that encourage engagement.
Highlighting that gamification can be a positive experience, with studies actually finding that gamified approaches can improve learner outcomes, GamCare also cautioned that the issue can actually lie with the gambling-like mechanics that may make risk more difficult to recognise.
The legal classification of gambling itself, the charity continued, should not by itself describe how risk is experienced, as the precursors may take many shapes.
Loot boxes and flash sales
One example of that is loot boxes, which have stirred a level of controversy in countries like Poland and Germany due to their gambling-like nature, where players pay real money to receive a random item in games like FIFA – varying from common to rare player card packs.
“People contacting GamCare have described spending far more on loot boxes than they intended,” the charity added. “One person purchased packs to obtain stronger players and compete at the highest level, eventually spending £2,500 before recognising the true cost. Others described the excitement of receiving an unexpectedly valuable item.”
Another sector identified by GamCare where users might exhibit risk behaviour similar to that in gambling is retail. Online shoppers are often exposed to flash sales, countdowns, mystery purchases and live auctions that create urgency and foster repeat participation.
“The product is different, but the pattern is familiar: rapid decisions, uncertain outcomes, repeated spending and a strong urge to continue.”
Given how risk in traditional gambling can leak into other sectors, regardless of the clear legal boundaries between each one, the charity flagged a number of major concerns that could challenge how gambling harm is handled in the future.
A harmful pattern may not always be recognised by either customers or professionals outside of gambling. Similarly, gambling-specific blocks may not cover adjacent products. And lastly, information about risk and harm can become fragmented when moving between sectors and regulators.
Victoria Corbishley, Chief Executive Officer of GamCare, concluded: “If prevention remains organised only around the legal category of the product, it will continue to miss some of the people who need it.
“GamCare is ready to work with regulators, researchers, industry and people with lived experience to close that gap.”