Cashless gambling cause worry among gamers due to privacy, efficacy issues: study

While cashless gambling on electronic gaming machines (EGMs) presents prospects for harm reduction, recent study from the University of Sydney reveals that some users may be hesitant to use the technology owing to worries about privacy and worries that it may result in higher expenditure.

In order to better understand the advantages, hazards, and variables driving the adoption of cashless gaming, 26 EGM users took part in focus groups. By recording a user’s whole gambling behaviour, cashless gaming enables improved harm reduction techniques, however some participants considered it to be unnecessarily restricting and intrusive. They were worried that, depending on how they were designed and implemented, cashless systems would encourage excessive spending.

Participants who gambled without suffering any serious consequences did not think much of cashless systems. According to the study, significant obstacles to their adoption might include privacy issues and the perception that such systems are irrelevant.

The implementation of mandated cashless gaming by casino operators Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment Group has generated debate in Australia. Similar equipment is also being tested in bars and clubs in New South Wales. Policymakers may learn from this study as they take a harm reduction approach to the design, deployment, and marketing of cashless gaming systems.

Original story by: IAG