Journal of Gambling Studies, Vol. 20, No. 2, Summer 2004 ( 2004)
Awareness Promotion About Excessive Gambling Among Video Lottery Retailers Robert Ladouceur Claude Boutin Ce ´line Doucet Michel Dumont Martin Provencher Isabelle Giroux Laval University Christiane Boucher Socie´te´ des Loteries Vide´o du Que´bec
This paper describes and evaluates “As luck would have it,” an awareness program completed by retailers in Quebec Province. This program, which is presented as a two-hour awareness promotion workshop, aimed to inform retailers about excessive gambling. More specifically, it provided answers to the following questions: (1) What is chance and randomness? (2) Is there a link between misunderstanding the concept of chance and excessive gambling? (3) How does one recognise the symptoms of this disorder? (4) How should retailers intervene if they decide to do so? Results showed that retailers developed a better understanding of problem gambling, could recognise its main symptoms, felt more capable of coping with excessive gamblers, and of choosing the most appropriate moment to do so. In the follow-up phase, retailers who had attended the workshop reported that they approached a problem gambler significantly more often than the retailers who had not attended the workshop, and had discussed how to help problem gamblers significantly more often. The practical implications of these results are briefly discussed. KEY WORDS: training retailers; prevention; responsible gambling.
Please address correspondence to Robert Ladouceur, Ecole de Psychologie, Universite Laval, Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada, G1K 7P4. E-mail:
[email protected].
181 1050-5350/04/0600-0181/0 2004 Human Sciences Press, Inc.
182
JOURNAL OF GAMBLING STUDIES
Responsibility is the key issue in the delivery of gambling products and in the monitoring of social consequences of gambling in all jurisdictions who have legalised gambling. All interested parties will agree that the ultimate goal is to prevent excessive or compulsive gambling. Simply stated, Responsible Gambling can be described in terms of policies and practices designed to prevent and reduce harms associated with gambling behaviour. In that context, many professionals and scientists begin to realise that gambling is not per se a problem; excessive or compulsive gambling is. The goal is then to minimise adverse consequences caused by gambling. Few papers have addressed the theoretical and practical issues of Responsible Gambling (Blaszczynski, Ladouceur, & Shaffer, 2002). Until now, harm reduction and harm minimization models were developed to cope with drug or alcohol related problems (see MacCoum, 1998; Marlatt, 1996). Responsible Gambling strategies should target the at risk gamblers. Prevention measures should be developed to help people to refrain the progression of their habits in such a way that the activity will cause harm and adverse consequences to the individual or to his/her immediate environment. Unfortunately, the problem gamblers have developed the problem and they need professional care. Treatment providers should help these individuals, not the people in charge of running the gaming program. A Responsible Gambling program should have the objective of decreasing the incidence of problem gambling that is the development of new cases of problem gamblers over a period of time. Targeting the prevalence, which is reducing the number of problem gamblers at a given time in a given jurisdiction, is in the realm of the treatment specialists. Video Lottery Terminals are often played in bars in the province of Quebec. Many excessive gamblers have seek help for this problem. It is therefore important to design and evaluate a program that could help retailers to cope with at risk video lottery gamblers. “As luck would have it,” the name of the awareness program delivered in Quebec, represents an important achievement in the field of excessive gambling in that retailers are seldom targeted as allies in prevention efforts. Video lottery is the subject of much current debate and great controversy, and retailers are often the target of caustic criticisms. Most retailers are concerned about excessive gamblers. Unfor-
ROBERT LADOUCEUR ET AL.
183
tunately, they know little of the psychology of gambling and possess few strategies to assist these gamblers. This program, which is presented as a two-hour awareness promotion workshop, aims to inform retailers about excessive gambling. More specifically, it provides answers to the following questions: (1) What is chance and randomness? (2) Is there a link between misunderstanding the concept of chance and excessive gambling? (3) How does one recognise the symptoms of this illness? (4) How should the retailer intervene if he or she decides to do so? This paper presents (1) the changes reported at the end of the workshop, and (2) the impact of this training session at a 6 month follow-up.
METHOD Participants The 707 participants (women: 28.5 %; men: 71.5 %) are from different regions of Quebec. Participation was mandatory for anyone in the business of Video Lottery Terminal. Their ages range from 25 to 65 years. Of these participants, 54.8 % are the owners of the establishment containing video-lottery terminals, 21.4 % are partners or associates, and 23.8 % are employees. The length of time occupying such functions varies between 1 and 48 years. On average, the participants worked 48.5 hours per week, spending an average of 42.9 % of this period “on the floor,” in direct contact with the consumers of video lotteries. In order to assess the long term benefits of the training session, a follow-up questionnaire was sent by mail to 496 of the 707 retailers who had attended the workshop 6 months earlier. They were randomly chosen from the initial pool of participants. The control group included 504 new retailers who had not attended the workshop. Procedure During the 2-hr information session, the retailers were first invited to share their perceptions of excessive gamblers, as well as their concerns regarding this subject. They then view a 12-minute video illustrating the recommended way to approach excessive gamblers.
184
JOURNAL OF GAMBLING STUDIES
Through this video,1 the retailer learnt how to identify excessive gamblers and how to approach them to offer a flyer concerning chance, myths that are generally associated with video lotteries, the pitfalls of the video lottery machines and excessive gambling. The video contained, among other things, role play scenarios to which those who decide to assist excessive gamblers can refer. The work-shop was conducted by a psychologist who offers the retailers the opportunity to participate in a role playing game that illustrates the potential traps of gambling, in which excessive gamblers are at risk for being caught. At the beginning and end of workshop, the retailers completed a questionnaire evaluating their perceptions and their perceived role towards excessive gamblers. They were further evaluated at a 6 month follow up; changes in their perceptions and behaviours were compared to a control group.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Comparisons between responses upon workshop entry and completion seem to indicate that the objectives of the “As luck would have it” program were attained. After the session, the participants were more convinced of the importance of receiving information about excessive gambling (χ2 (16) = 476.6, p < .001). It also appears that the attributes of excessive gamblers are better understood (t (655) = −14.68, p < .001), as well as the best way to approach such individuals (t (650) = −24.82, p < .001). Furthermore, upon completion of the information sessions, participants felt more capable to choose the most appropriate moment to do so (χ2 (16) = 58.7, p < .001 (N = 651). Finally, at the end of the session, the retailers were more convinced of the importance of increasing their employees’ awareness of excessive gambling (t (647) = −11.595, p < .001) the latter being more often in a better position to intervene. In the follow-up phase, retailers who had attended the workshop reported that they approached a problem gambler significantly more often than the retailers who had not attended the workshop (t = 2.11, p < 0,05). Retailers will at times suggest to play a machine that has not recently paid; a machine considered as “full.” Such suggestions may encourage the player to gamble more than expected. Results show that
ROBERT LADOUCEUR ET AL.
185
they had suggested less often to a player to play on another machine (t = 4.09, p < 0.001) and had discussed on how to help a problem gambler significantly more often (t = 4.1, p < 0.001). The evolution of retailer’s perceptions is significant. At the end of the information session, they knew more about excessive gambling and better understood the determining role they can play in such behaviour. This reality coincides with a willingness frequently demonstrated by several retailers and the industry in general, to promote well thought out and responsible gambling behaviour. More importantly, these changes were maintained at the follow-up phase, and were translated into behavioural interventions. Participants left the information session with a new vision of the problem such as demystifying excessive gambling, recognising its main symptoms, and understanding the responsibility incumbent upon retailers with regards to this behaviour. This first study needs to be replicated and followed by direct observation of retailers’ intervention in their own venue. These results have many implications for the retailers, the gamblers and the industry in terms of concrete means to promote Responsible Gambling in a given jurisdiction.
NOTE 1. A copy of the video is available upon request to the first author.
REFERENCES Blaszczynski, A., Ladouceur, R., & Shaffer, H. S. (2002). A Science-Based Framework for Responsible Gambling: The Reno Model. Unpublished manuscript. MacCoun, R. J. (1998). Toward a psychology of harm reduction. American Psychologist, 53, 1199– 1208. Marlatt, A. G. (1996). Harm reduction: Come as you are. Addictive Behaviors, 21, 779–788.
