Digital resources that currently exist to assist people with reducing their gambling harms target consumers experiencing severe harms. However, a larger proportion of gambling consumers experience low to moderate levels of gambling harms, leaving a gap for digital resources that encourage safer gambling in this group. Resources to enable lower risk gambling such as the ability to set deposit limits or calculate annual gambling losses tend to be underutilised, particularly by consumers experiencing low to moderate gambling harms.
Our research aims to understand gambling consumer motivators and barriers to engaging with digital resources, to overcome the challenges and encourage lower risk gambling behaviour. Our methodology involves interviewing gambling consumers regarding their perspectives towards accessing digital and non-digital supports for behaviour change and interviewing key stakeholders who could influence the uptake of digital resources, including health and welfare professionals and gambling industry professionals. Gaining insights on the factors that drive or hinder the use of digital resources from the various stakeholder perspectives can assist with informing the development of a prototype digital resource, which can be further refined with additional consumer insights. The objective is to design a user-friendly resource to empower gambling consumers to make informed decisions, engage in positive behaviour change and consequently minimise their experience of gambling harms.