DraftKings Inc. and Gamres, a leading responsible gaming (RG) consulting and research practice based in Ontario, announced a new collaboration to introduce the Positive Play Scale to DraftKings through an online survey to select U.S. DraftKings customers. The collaboration will mark the first time a multi-state online U.S. gaming operator will incorporate the Positive Play Scale tool into its RG program, which is the first ever standardized scale to measure RG beliefs and behaviors among players. The adoption of the Positive Play Scale will assist DraftKings in optimizing safer play.

“We’re grateful for this opportunity to team up with Gamres, which is renowned for its strategic consulting and research around the world, to bring the Positive Play Scale tool to DraftKings. We believe that DraftKings’ responsible gaming program, which strives to be the industry gold standard, will be significantly enhanced with the addition of this scientific tool and will yield rich and actionable insights – helping us to us better understand and engage our players,” Chrissy Thurmond, Senior Director of Responsible Gaming at DraftKings, said.

The Positive Play Scale was co-developed by several leading researchers including Gamres’ Dr. Richard Wood, Dr. Michael Wohl, and Dr. Nassim Tabri (Frontiers in Psychology, 2017). The tool seeks to understand and encourage positive play among all players. The Positive Play Scale tool asks players about four key beliefs – personal responsibility, gaming literacy, honesty and control, and pre-commitment – to measure their responsible gaming knowledge and behaviors.

On behalf of DraftKings, Gamres will prepare and administer an online survey to a U.S.-based sample of DraftKings players using the framework of the Positive Play Scale. Gamres will analyze the survey results to provide a baseline measure of Positive Play at DraftKings, as well as to identify possible differences in certain player groups and how DraftKings may refine its RG practices to advance positive play.

“Gamres is thrilled to be working with DraftKings to help promote positive play amongst their customers. Most players just play for fun and to be entertained, but we have found that some players (generally) have misperceptions about gaming that can either diminish their enjoyment or in some cases lead to them spending more than they intended. We believe that the Positive Play Scale will help to optimize DraftKings’ RG strategy to identify those areas that would benefit from the most support. As such, we expect that the findings from this project will help DraftKings develop a proactive approach to responsible gaming that encourages all players to have healthy, positive playing experiences,” Gamres’ Dr. Richard Wood said.