Beyond ‘single customer view’: Player tracking's potential role in understanding and reducing gambling‐related harm

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundUsage of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) and on‐line gambling is strongly associated with gambling‐related harm. Player‐tracking systems can monitor a gambler's activity across multiple sessions and/or operators, providing a clearer picture of the person's risk of harm with respect to these gambling formats and enabling harm reduction efforts. The Finnish and Norwegian state monopolies have player‐tracking systems in place, while the United Kingdom is implementing an operator‐led system called ‘single customer view’ for on‐line gambling, and Australian states are proposing similar ‘player cards’ for land‐based EGMs.ArgumentPlayer tracking can advance harm reduction efforts in three ways. First, player tracking improves our understanding of gambling‐related harm by providing data on how the population gambles, which can potentially be linked with operator, government and/or prevalence data sets. Secondly, player tracking can be used to implement harm reduction measures such as expenditure limits, self‐exclusion and age verification. Thirdly, player tracking can provide a platform to evaluate harm reduction measures via gold‐standard field trials. These potential benefits need to be weighed against various practical and ethical issues.ConclusionsThe potential benefits of player‐tracking systems would be maximized via systems administered independently of the gambling industry and implemented universally across all gambling in a given jurisdiction.