Pre-Commitment Practices & Perceptions in relation to Gambling Limits

A lack of self-regulatory capacity due to environmental factors, emotional vulnerability or impulsivity has been identified as a key element in the loss of control associated with problematic gambling. This study explores gamblers¿ practices of, and attitudes towards, pre-commitment to setting limits on their gambling spend, time spent gambling and strategies of play when using Electronic Gaming Machines. The results suggest that the more often players set spending limits, the more likely they were to adhere also to time, frequency and playing style limits well. Almost two thirds of moderate risk/problem gamblers favoured the introduction of a pre-commitment system with close to half of these favouring a compulsory system.