Evaluation of the “take time to think” safer gambling message: a randomised, online experimental study

Safer gambling messages can potentially form a part of a public health approach to preventing gambling-related harms, if found effective. This study tested the effect of the new UK safer gambling message, “take time to think”, on a range of gambling behaviours in a sample of UK-based online gamblers. UK-based online gamblers could earn monetary endowments during an initial task, which they then had the option to gamble with on a commercially available online roulette game. Participants could quit the game, either without gambling or at any point, and were paid their corresponding bonus amount afterwards. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: ‘no-message’ control, ‘message’ shown throughout condition, or a ‘message+’ condition, where the message was shown throughout and also via a popup immediately before the option to gamble. The 755 participants in the no-message condition gambled on average 34.9% [95% Bayesian CI 32.7% to 37.3%] of their available funds, which showed no credible differences between either the 796 participants in the message condition (32.8% [30.6% to 35.1%]), or the 727 participants in the message+ condition (32.9% [30.6% to 35.2%]). The rate of help-seeking was 2.8% in the no-message condition [1.7% to 4.0%], which showed no credible differences between the message condition (2.9% [1.8% to 4.1%]), or the message+ condition (2.5% [1.4% to 3.7%]). The mean speed of play was 9.7 seconds in the no-message condition [9.0 to 10.3], which showed no credible differences between the message condition (9.5 seconds [8.9 to 10.2]), or the message+ condition (10.1 seconds [9.4 to 10.9]). Finally, for those who gambled, the mean number of spins was 8.3 [7.4 to 9.2] in the no-message condition, which also showed no credible differences between the message condition (7.6 [6.9 to 8.5]), or the message+ condition (8.2 [7.4 to 9.2]). Overall, the results of this experiment demonstrate that even the prominent display of the “take time to think” message does not lead to a credible beneficial effect on a range of contemporaneous gambling behaviours. We conclude that messaging alone can only make up a small part of a public health approach to reducing gambling-related harms, which should also use a range of complementary interventions.