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A recent study has revealed that bonuses and free betting offers can lead players to increase their gambling expenditure by as much as 11%. Conducted with the backing of the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland, the research focused on men under 40 and involved 622 participants.
The study was carried out in the lead-up to the Euro 2024 football tournament. Participants were presented with various betting options, including enticing offers like free bets and money-back guarantees. They were then asked to indicate which options they would likely choose in real-life situations.
One of the main findings showed that when players were offered some form of incentive, they tended to spend significantly more. Even when the betting odds remained the same, consumers were willing to wager approximately 11% extra when bonuses were available. This behavior raises important questions about the impact of promotional offers on gambling habits, particularly among younger players.
Players Made Bad Bets Due to Free Bets Attached
The study found that players showed a troubling tendency to make poor betting choices when free bets were involved. When participants encountered what researchers labeled as “bad bets,” those with worse odds, this behavior became even more pronounced. On average, players wagered four times more when a bad bet was paired with an enticing offer.
Data revealed that 27.2% of respondents opted for these less favorable bets when they included a free bet, in stark contrast to only 7.9% who chose bad bets without any bonuses. A similar trend appeared with money-back offers, where 19% of players selected bonus-supported bets compared to just 4.9% without such incentives.
Among the different types of inducements, free bets had the most significant impact on spending. Participants spent an average of just over €2 on bad bets tied to free bets, while those opting for money-back offers averaged less than €1.50. This suggests that the lure of free bets may encourage players to take risks they otherwise wouldn’t consider.
Bonuses Likely to Cause More Problem Gambling
The study highlighted significant concerns regarding how bonus offers might influence individuals at risk of gambling harm. Researchers assessed this by examining the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores of participants.
Those classified as “Problem Gamblers” displayed a notable tendency to wager more when bonuses were involved. This trend was especially pronounced among individuals in the Moderate Evidence category, where the amount spent on inducement bets was more than double that of wagers without offers.
Across all PGSI categories, bonus-backed bets consistently outperformed standard wagers when it came to bad bets. In the Problem Gambling category, players placed an average of over €2 on bad bets tied to bonuses, while those making standard wagers spent less than 50 cents.
Similar spending patterns were observed in the Moderate Evidence, Some Evidence, and No Evidence categories, reinforcing the idea that bonus offers may contribute to increased risky gambling behavior among vulnerable players.
“Our findings add to growing evidence that inducements lead more people to gamble and gamblers to spend more, increasing financial losses for consumers and raising profits for operators,” the study concluded. “We also find that inducements disproportionately affect those with evidence of problem gambling.”
Lawmakers were encouraged to add more restrictions to online betting promotions, highlighting Spain’s bonus caps and banning welcome bonuses.
“Inducements to gamble are not merely a marketing tool that operates like equivalent inducements in other consumer markets,” the study said. “The argument that inducements simply help consumers differentiate between operators does not apply; they do more than this.”
Source: IGB
