French researchers have developed a system that can prevent the risk of addiction to online betting games.
This is an innovation that could significantly reduce the number of gambling addicts. Researchers from the University of Paris Sud have just developed a computer system that can identify players at risk of addiction. And all this thanks to an algorithm. As the scientists detail, “online gambling and betting sites disseminate prevention messages to players, but nothing obliges them to identify those who have or develop an addiction while visiting the site (…) , they can thus continue to solicit them commercially ”. And the team of researchers assures it, the data collected by online gaming sites could “be sufficient to identify players in difficulty”.
An unprecedented predictive model
To develop this system, scientists gathered data from each player’s accounts and created a scouting tool. The system was developed in two stages: “The first consisted in identifying players whose gambling was considered medically problematic, the second in establishing an algorithm capable of finding these same profiles. In addition, 170,063 people registered on sites were questioned. Of these, 18% had probable dependence. With this, we have thus built and validated a predictive model, which makes it possible to identify people whose gambling behavior is problematic ”, explains in a press release Amandine Luquiens, who led this work. A small revolution therefore, which could help fight against addiction.
Addiction is not correlated with the amount spent
Researchers have established several factors that can cause gambling addiction: being under 28, depositing a sum of money upon registration or participating in more than 60 games per month. And surprisingly, “addiction does not correlate with the amount spent. Moreover, only a third of people with a gambling problem find themselves facing financial difficulties, recalls Amandine Luquiens. In reality, it is above all the temporal invasion of the game in everyday life that illustrates addiction, especially in the field of poker. “
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