I came across this article from Australia that looked at the role of free‐to‐play gambling‐themed apps and their relationship to in‐venue gambling.
The summary of their research showed that:
- In retrospective accounts, children aged under 13 who play gambling‐themed apps were also more likely to gamble for money.
- In retrospective accounts, young people (13–18) who played apps prior to age 13 were more likely to have early involvement with gambling.
- In a longitudinal experiment, in weeks where young adults (18–29) played longer on gambling‐themed apps, they also gambled longer in venues.
- In a longitudinal experiment, in weeks where young adults (18‐29) played longer on gambling‐themed apps, they were also more likely to gamble for longer in venues in the subsequent week.
As part of their implications they wonder about these games and how they normalize gambling for children. They also note that there is room for much more study into this phenomenon.
It made me reflect on past clients that started playing free online poker and then graduated to the pay sites. They tended to do that when they had won on the free site and they could only redeem their winnings on the pay site, or when they felt that they had honed their skills on the free site, and were wanting to try gambling on the premium sites.
An interesting paper, I look forward to reading more of this research and seeing what the tech world does with this information, and how service providers, educators and parents can support their children and the kinds of games they play.