Nudging the uptake of responsible gambling tools among land-based casino players: A randomized controlled trial assessing the utility of incentivization.

Authors

Michael J A Wohl, Amy C Ortis, Christopher G Davis, Nassim Tabri

Published in

Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors. Oct 05, 2026. Epub Oct 05, 2026.

Abstract

To test whether a modest incentive increases uptake of a responsible gambling deposit-limit tool among land-based casino players using a digital wallet for electronic gaming machine play and whether reward sensitivity or disordered gambling symptomatology moderates this effect.
Participants were 314 U.S. casino loyalty-program members who used the operator's digital wallet to play electronic gaming machines and had not enrolled in the operator's deposit-limit tool. Participants were randomly assigned to a control condition (n = 156), which provided standard information about the tool and a link to enroll, or an incentive condition (n = 158), which provided the same information plus 500 reward points (value equivalent to $5 USD) for enrolling. Enrollment was assessed in two prespecified ways: clicking the embedded enrollment link and operator-verified enrollment via player account data. Reward sensitivity and disordered gambling symptomatology were assessed using the Sensitivity to Reward subscale and the Problem Gambling Severity Index, respectively.
Participants in the incentive condition were more likely than controls to click the enrollment link (36.1% vs. 25.0%), χ²(1) = 4.54, p = .033, φ = .12, and to enroll based on operator account data (17.1% vs. 2.1%), χ²(1) = 18.64, p < .001, φ = .25. Reward sensitivity and disordered gambling symptomatology did not moderate the effect. Exploratory analyses linked younger age, but not gender, to both outcomes; neither age nor gender moderated the condition effect.
A modest incentive increased initial uptake of a monetary deposit-limit tool among active land-based casino gamblers. These findings suggest that low-cost incentive-based strategies may help increase engagement with responsible gambling tools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

PMID:
42831830
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 05 Oct 2026.

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