Responsible gambling strategy information available on public-facing state lottery websites in the U.S

Abstract

ABSTRACT The lottery is the most widely available form of legal gambling in the US. However, there is relatively little work in promoting responsible gambling strategies by lottery providers. The current study applies five evidence-based responsible gambling strategies, to the responsible gambling information made available on 46 state lottery websites. The study employed a content analysis of the public-facing websites. The study found that a minority of the state lottery sites provided readily available information to the public for each of five strategies. Responsible gambling information was limited in most cases with several notable and informative exceptions. Findings are discussed in the context of public health education and harm reduction approaches in the provision of gambling products. The responsible gambling framework is premised on the notion of well-informed participants. Poor integration of responsible gambling strategies for the most widely available form of gambling points to the shortcomings of this framework in practice. Lottery operators should strive to increase their adoption of a greater range of responsible gambling approaches and increase the visibility of relevant information for potential participants.