Can Payment Behavior Be Used to Signal Harmful Gambling? a Delphi Study among Different Stakeholders on Key Indicators

As the gambling industry evolved into an online consumer commodity, gambling operators are adopting financial technologies as the preferred way to process deposits and win withdrawals. These technologies allow consumers to connect different payment methods, hence enabling cross-sectional fund access and creating financial footprints that have the potential to help prevent excessive gambling. This prompts an exploration of how payment solution providers can contribute to responsible spending, given their increasing participation in the gambling industry. Despite such possibilities, there is a paucity of research on how transactional data can be harnessed to infer (problematic) gambling behavior and pathways to bring digital payment solution (DPS) providers on board the Responsible Gambling agenda. Following a comprehensive literature review that developed gambling behavior indicators within payment transactions, we conducted a three-round Delphi study to evaluate this set of preliminary indicators. Sixteen experts with diverse backgrounds were asked to evaluate if a given indicator has the potential to evaluate gambling consumption. The study considered an 80% rate as consensus, and indicators under the level of consensus were returned for further reappraisal to the participants. Building on our findings, we present a conceptual framework that could provide a pathway to incorporate financial institutions into initiatives promoting responsible gambling practices. In addition, these insights may inform policy discussions regarding the active involvement of financial institutions serving gambling operators in advocating responsible gambling behavior.