Popular poker-inspired mobile game Balatro has had its Pan-European Game Information age rating reduced from 18 to 12, escalating the long-standing debate on gambling in video games. One of the most popular mobile games in 2024, Balatro incorporates elements of poker into a card game where players aim to form winning combinations, enhanced by special features such as joker…
The Senate of Italy is prepared to review the Dignity Decree of 2018 to either revoke or modify the ban on gambling sponsorship, enforced since 2019. Calcio newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Sports Minister Andrea Abodi is ready to negotiate a new sponsorship code with the Italian football clubs that will be presented to the Culture Committee of…
Svenska Spel has praised the impact of its Independent Research Council on Gambling Risks and Addiction. The programme has entered its fifteenth year since its formation as an independent body, having reached the milestone of providing over SEK 100m (€10m) in funding for projects that deliver deeper insights into the impacts of problem gambling. In 2024, Svenska Spel announced…
Traditional advertising channels across Europe are efficiently blocking the exposure of minors to gambling, according to the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA). The trade association put out a summary of an in-depth market assessment by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) from December 2024, which monitored 120 individual ads from Greece, Spain, Romania and the UK. Results were…
A team of academics from the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, Goldsmiths and Edinburgh, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have launched a scathing attack on the gambling industry in respected medical journal the BMJ. Their paper, ‘Learning from tobacco control to tackle gambling industry harms’ compares the infamous “frank statement” from…
UK treatment provider Gordon Moody is launching its annual gambling harm awareness day on March 18th with the provocative hashtag #Dying4ABet. “This intentionally provocative campaign is designed to break the silence around gambling-related harm, spark meaningful conversations, and provide a route to recovery for those impacted by this often-hidden addiction,” wrote Gordon Moody CEO Monica…
UK banks Barclays, First Direct, HSBC UK, Monzo, Starling and Virgin Money join Nationwide in committing to the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute’s Gambling Harms Action Lab. The Lab is an 18-month project that aims to explore new ways for financial institutions to protect their customers from gambling-related harm. “Banks and other financial firms…
Policies and interventions to reduce harmful gambling: an international Delphi consensus and implementation rating study Public Health England (since disbanded, now the Office of Health Improvement & Disparities) convened a panel of 35 non-gambling industry public health “experts” to judge the efficacy of 103 measures to implement a “comprehensive public health approach” to gambling. The…
The Basque Gaming Observatory has launched a new market study which warns that 47 percent of young people between 18 and 24 years old are active participants in gaming and betting offers throughout the region. The study also highlighted the shocking figure that 92.8 percent of the population has gambled at some point in their lives, while…
Swedish operators ATG, Betsson, Kindred and Svenska Spel have released their H2 2024 responsible gambling figures. One of the most notable differences in the figures is Betsson’s self-exclusion statistic – 18.7% of its contacted customers self-excluded from gambling compared to between 1.38% and 4.4% at the other operators. A spokesperson for Betsson commented: “The figure…