Percentage and Currency Framing of House-Edge Gambling Warning Labels

Abstract

All commercial gambling games are constructed so that the gamblers will on average lose money over time. This fact is often communicated to gamblers on virtual gambling games as the “return-to-player.” A return-to-player of 90% means that for every £100 bet, on average £90 is paid back out in prizes. In previous work, gamblers were better informed, and perceived a lower chance of winning, when this information was equivalently reframed as a “house-edge” of 10%, whereby the game keeps 10% of all money bet on average. This paper explores whether there are further risk communication advantages to using currency framing for the house-edge format, by directly stating the amount kept as: “This game keeps £10 for every £100 bet on average.” Online gamblers (N = 1,007) reported their perceived chances of winning for hypothetical games with house-edges of either 0.5%, 7.5%, or 15%, presented as either percentages or currency units. Gamblers’ perceived chances of winning were only minimally affected by this framing of house-edge information.