• The Dutch Gambling Authority has raised issues with Responsible Gambling interventions by operators
• This comes after a new study sought to identify the drivers of gambling behavior and how much people lost before seeking help
• Big financial losses are not the only reason why people stop gambling or seek help

Kansspelautoriteit and the Anonymous Gamblers Environment Gamblers have conducted a survey, in which they interviewed people enrolled in self-help groups. The goal of the survey was to better understand people’s gambling habits, key motivators, and how they fared after enrolling in dedicated groups meant to help them overcome their dependency on the harmful practice of excessive gambling.

Interventions may not be coming on time or ever

Similarly, the survey dug further into whether people have stopped gambling, whether they have been gambling with unregulated websites, as well as why, and also inquired after the players’ experience with operators, and whether they have received help in the form of intervention.

Respondents, a sample of 139 people, said that they have not, in fact, received any intervention from operators, with 68% of respondents saying so, at least not personally. 83% said that they never received a gambling ban because of their activity.

At the same time, the interviewees confirmed that temptation remained high, because the legalization of online gambling has made it possible to access websites at a moment’s notice. Another issue for most people has been gambling ads throughout various media, which have further proved challenging to resist.

Despite this, however, there are reasons to be optimistic, as the AGOG and Kansspelautoriteit survey has shown that more than half of the people who have enrolled in the AGOG-backed self-help groups have in fact stopped gambling.

Big losses are not the only trigger for stopping gambling

As to who enrolled in the self-help groups, half of the participants said that they had lost €50,000 or more. Importantly, however, 25% of all respondents said that they lost less than €1,000 when they realized they needed help.

The people who ended up enrolled with AGOG’s self-help group cited various reasons for doing so, from financial to personal issues that have prompted them to seek help. Two-thirds of all participants are also aided by an institution that specializes in treating addictive behavior.

Notably, 81% of all participants said they started gambling before the age of 24% and another 46% participants were under the age of 18%, which aligns with Kansspelautoriteit’s attempts to ensure that younger consumers and people under the legal gambling age are not actively targeted by companies.

Players interviewed said that they would gamble both legally and illegally – the main reason for resorting to the latter was the fact that they were self-excluded on Cruks, and only offshore operators would allow them to register and play, highlighting once again the worse player protection that offshore companies offer.

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