Speakers - 2026

Title: Duty of Care: New Age Strategies for Online Gambling Harm Assessment

Abstract

The detection of online gambling harm continues to suffer from a profound assessment gap particularly in the United Kingdom, with fewer than 0.05% of people who participate in online gambling activities ever completing any behavioural assessment, alongside a growing data gap in understanding the new digital-risk factors shaping harm. Existing tools focus on financial markers or traditional symptom checklists, yet these approaches miss emerging patterns driven by smartphones, algorithmic nudging, and social-media-amplified betting cues. This research addresses the urgent need for additional, not replacement, assessment infrastructure that are friendly, stigma-free, and capable of meeting users where harm now occurs: within fast-paced, mobile environments.

Using SRM-X, a next-generation screening instrument that detects seven modern digital-risk factors including tipster influence, frictionless design harm, and notification-driven impulsivity, this study explores how behavioural cues can be transformed into micro-interventions that strengthen self-regulation. Grounded in the Fogg Behaviour Model, the project examines how increasing Ability and reducing Prompt exposure can reshape high-frequency wagering loops, while integrating Tiny Habits to build practical, user-centred routines that support control. These small, scalable actions align with modern public-health strategies that prioritise user autonomy rather than punitive restriction.

By analysing pilot SRM-X data and synthesising theoretical insights from behavioural engineering, platform capitalism, and digital-harm research, this study contributes a novel framework for early detection and micro-behaviour change. The aim is to reduce the growing assessment gap by delivering tools that connect meaningfully with users while expanding the evidence base for gambling harm research.