The Story Behind the Limit-Setting Campaign

Prior to launching our limit-setting campaign in 2008, the Manitoba Gaming Control Commission (MGCC) focused on empowering Manitobans to make informed gambling choices through public education messaging that busted myths about gambling-related odds and randomness. Our myth-busting campaign has run for the past three years in response to research results that showed that these myths were widespread in the province.

The MGCC regularly measures Manitobans’ gambling attitudes, knowledge and behaviours in order to evaluate public initiatives, and our evaluation research told us that the myth-busting campaign produced results. The number of Manitobans who believed the myths decreased after each campaign flight: after just two flights, more than half of Manitobans knew that all of the myths were false and nearly another quarter believed only one myth.

Still, the myth-busting campaign, like similar primary prevention campaigns from other provinces, was developed based on the theory that improved knowledge would lead players to gamble more responsibly. In 2007, we initiated a series of research projects to better understand Manitobans’ choices about responsible gambling. Through the Manitobans and Gambling II (2007) study, we saw that responsible gambling behaviours were not improving in line with this theory. Despite the campaign’s success at correcting faulty beliefs, some Manitobans were unable to correctly describe key aspects of responsible gambling and just 40% of Manitobans viewed gambling expenditures as part of an entertainment budget, like spending money to see a movie or going out to dinner.

In asking a detailed series of questions about limit-setting strategies, the research also found that more than one third of Manitobans never use any strategies to limit their gambling. For those Manitobans who do limit their gambling, the most common strategy is to set a spending limit or budget, where the gambler decides in advance the maximum amount to spend. Limiting access to finances, for example, by leaving debit and credit cards at home, is another popular strategy.

The MGCC held focus groups across the province in 2008 to explore this puzzling finding that Manitobans have not changed their responsible gambling behaviours, despite being better informed about how gambling works. Our focus groups revealed some very interesting patterns.

First, nearly all participants felt strongly that setting spending limits is important for staying in control when gambling. Participants told us how they set limits based on what they can individually afford, and many think of gambling spending to be part of their entertainment budget or “fun money”. Despite this protective strategy, several participants could remember times when they had spent beyond their limits. This had happened most commonly when they believed that they could win back their lost money or when they were gambling with friends who had not yet hit their own limits.

Most participants agreed that it’s important for the public to hear messages about responsible gambling strategies, in particular, the strategies to set a limit on how much money they can afford to gamble and to remember that gambling is a form of entertainment that costs money. Participants felt that hearing these messages would not make gambling less enjoyable for the public, but that it would make Manitobans better equipped to manage their gambling spending.

All of this research suggested that Manitobans would benefit from a broad new responsible gambling campaign that would promote limit-setting as a key responsible gambling behaviour. The MGCC is committed to developing public education messaging that responds to Manitobans’ changing needs, and so we embarked upon creating the campaign that you’re currently seeing around the province.