GAMIFIED SAVINGS AS A PROBLEM GAMBLING INTERVENTION��
Laura Barasa | University of Nairobi, Kenya | lauranelima@uonbi.ac.ke
Sylvan Herskowitz | The World Bank, Washington DC, USA | sherskowitz@worldbank.org
Annet Adong | Makerere University, Uganda | annetadong@gmail.com
Maximilian Müller | University of California, Berkeley, USA | mwmueller@berkeley.edu
Africa Evidence Summit | Nairobi, Kenya | June, 2023�
Motivation
Mobile gambling applications that are popular among male youth on the rise
Unprecedented growth of sports betting in sub-Saharan Africa
Sports betting in Africa is underpinned by widespread poverty, unemployment and poor or non-existent regulation
Prize-linked savings with a low likelihood of a large reward increase savings and reduce gambling expenditure
Soccer prize-linked savings with a high likelihood of a small reward increase savings and reduce gambling expenditure
Soccer prize-linked savings with a high likelihood of a large reward increase savings and reduce gambling expenditure
Promise of immediate payment of low likelihood, large rewards increase savings and reduce gambling expenditure
Gamified Savings: Soccer Prize-linked Savings
Predict games based on the English Premier League
Prediction based on 8 soccer matches with 50/50 odds, 8 weeks
Non-skewness win if a majority of predictions are correct, small reward
Skewness win when ALL predictions are correct, large reward
Option to cash out or save winnings in a locked account
Study Design and Sampling
Lab-in-the-field experiment
2000 male soccer bettors age 18-34 from Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala, Uganda
Research Design
Treatment arms | Treatment 1 Reward Payout Structure Low Variance (Small/Fixed Non-Skewness) vs. High Variance (Skewness) | |
Treatment 2
Gamification/Fun Soccer prize-linked savings | Low Variance: No Gamification (Control) Simple interest offer | High Variance: No Gamification
Lottery linked prize with two subgroups: immediate & delayed payment |
Low Variance: Gamification Choose matches but small reward | High Variance: Gamification Choose matches, low probability, large reward with two subgroups: immediate & delayed payment | |
Next Steps
App development
June-July 2023
Baseline
Aug 2023
Intervention
Sep-Oct 2023
Endline
Nov 2023