Effects of Proactive Call to Customers of Norsk Rikstoto (Horse Gambling Operator in Norway): A Randomized Controlled Study

University of Bergen

Status: Begins enrollment in 3 months

Conditions: Gambling Problem

Treatments: Behavioral: Proactive call

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07028450

Spillforsk25/1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Customers/gamblers gambling at Norsk Rikstoto (gambling monopolist in Norway providing horse gambling products with potential gambling problems will be randomly allocated to receive a proactive phone call (encouraging them to change their gambling behavior - e.g., be lowering the loss limit) or to a control condition. Outcomes will be short and long terms registered gambling behavior.

Full description

Norsk Rikstoto (gambling monopolist in Norway providing horse gambling products) enforces registered play, hence all gambling transactions and outcomes of stakes of all customers are registered and stored for 5 years. Based on daily algorithms high risk gamblers are identified. Gamblers 18-35 years who for at least 5 of the last 30 days have been identified as high risk gamblers will according to a 1.5:1 ratio be allocated to a proactive call condition or to a control condition.

The call will be based on principles from motivating interviewing and will contain encouragements to alter gambling behavior (e.g., lowering loss limits). Primary outcome comprises theoretical loss (total bet x house advantage ((100% - payback%) / 100)). Secondary outcomes comprises total stakes made by the customer and loss percentage (proportion of stake that is lost). Baseline data comprises gambling behavior the 30 days before the call. Short-term effects comprise cumulative registered gambling behavior the first 90 days after the call whereas long-term effects consist of cumulative registered gambling behavior day 91-180 after the call. A random block design will be used where 15 eligible customers each week will be allocated either to the proactive call condition (n=9) or to the control condition (n=6).

Enrollment: 192 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 35 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Being identified (based on an algorithm used by Norsk Rikstoto/the gambling provider) as a high risk gambler at least 5 of the last 30 days

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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192 participants in 2 patient groups

One proactive call

Experimental group

Description:

The call is based on principles of motivating interviewing and will in addition encourage the recipient to change his/hers gambling behavior (e.g., lower pre-set loss limits).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Proactive call

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

No contact/not reaching out