Betting apps know more about you than you might think

An Australian adult spends on average $1,500 on gambling every year. (Getty: South_agency) Link copiedShareShare articleHave you ever created an online account, only to find it seemingly impossible to close? How about receiving emails or notifications you don't remember signing up for? Or opening an app to be met with a pop-up you can't escape? This is known as deceptive design: when companies intentionally create online features to trick or trap people into spending more time and money. They're tactics we see all over the internet, from clothes shopping to booking flights. But experts say there's one industry where deceptive design is becoming increasingly predatory. They warn that gambling operators are using innovative technology to entice users and drive betting, worsening an already serious problem. Australians lose $32 billion on gambling each year, more per capita than any other country. Wagering companies deny misleading their users, and say they're providing the engaging, personalised service their punters crave. So, when does the lure of a bet turn into something more deceptive? And who carries the blame when it goes too far? Philip Newall has spent much of his career looking at how gambling companies use deceptive design, often known as "dark patterns" or — his own term — "dark nudges". "There are lots of ways that websites [and apps] try to trick people into doing things that they don't really want to do," the University of Bristol researcher says. Dr Newall's research is part of a body of work attempting to track deceptive design tactics across gambling platforms. Click on the black buttons below to see how some of these work in practice. "Just as a Las Vegas casino is designed to direct you … towards these quiet, comforting areas where you can lose all track of time and lose a lot of money, online gambling is really using those same principles," Dr Newall says. "[Online gambling platforms] are able to constantly change their products in small ways and observe how [user] behaviour responds. They can basically constantly conduct psychological experiments on their customers." * According to reports from the University of South Australia and the CPRC When asked about the use of dark patterns in online gambling platforms, Responsible Wagering Australia (RWA) did not confirm or deny their use, but said it did not support misleading conduct. "RWA and our members do not support practices that mislead consumers or make it harder to access support, and customers have access to a range of tools designed to help them manage their gambling and make informed decisions," CEO Kai Cantwell says. Gambling companies, like many others, employ a host of skilled web and app designers to finesse their user experience (UX). Dom* worked as a UX designer at a major sports betting company for several years. Though he was initially drawn to the field because of its focus on human behaviour, he was shocked by what he saw as deceptive design used in online gambling products. "At the beginning, it was really fun and fresh because it was something new. I had never worked in a company that big before and the pay was way higher than what I was earning before," he says. "Over time, I just started to see the really ugly side of things … and it really started to affect my mental health. "There were a lot of dark UX patterns being used to nudge people. For instance, it would be harder to exit out of a betting flow; we would purposely make the exit or cancel buttons less prominent so the users wouldn't see it, and then we'd make the [calls to action] a lot more prominent." He says the company culture framed its design around generating "excitement" for users, but that there was little discussion of potential harms. "It was all about optimisation. There was never a consideration of, how would this affect the users who may have a problem? "It was very reliant on the user knowing their limits, but I felt like a lot of the time they wouldn't know their limits." Dom ended up leaving the company and the UX industry all together. "It really felt like I was almost part of a cult," he says. "Towards the end, I really saw people being almost brainwashed into thinking they're doing good for the world. And now that I've been out of it, I really see how ugly [it] is." Aaron* has worked in UX design for multiple gambling companies and has a very different perspective. "In the companies and products I've worked on, there has generally been a strong emphasis on responsible gambling, compliance, and user protection," he says. "In my experience, anything that risks users not understanding what they're doing or pushes too far commercially is usually challenged [internally]." In his experience, tech tools are used to help, rather than harm, through tracking gamblers who may have an addiction. "Unusual habits get flagged by the system — there are whole departments that have algorithms running on a daily and hourly ba

Betting apps know more about you than you might think

Key takeaways

More in international