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“Players Who Feel Safe Are More Likely to Stay with A Sole Operator For Longer”
While iGaming brands amass social responsibility fines by the millions allowing unhealthy behavior go unchecked, a better way exists for both operator and player
Responsible Gaming is more than just an industry buzzword or something to look out for. It has real-life consequences for everyone involved: brands, operators and, more importantly – regular people. As the National Council on Problem Gambling marks its Gambling Awareness Month, we stopped to take stock of social responsibility in the iGaming industry – is enough being done? What is holding us back as an industry? And what will the future bring?
The Brands & Regulator
Recent years have seen a crackdown by the regulator on many iGaming fronts, specifically social responsibility or as we know it – Responsible Gaming. In 2021 brands amassed more than £15M in fines for failing to meet social responsibility regulations and protect at-risk players. The trend is gaining momentum, just three months into 2022, operators have already amassed over £15M in social responsibility fines, yes, similar to the entirety of 2021. The total sum of penalties in 2019 covering all violations? A ‘mere’ £17M. Operators need to comply and fast to keep the money on their side of the table.
The people
The human price of operators’ reluctance to comply with social responsibility regulations is clear. There are degrees of unhealthy behavior, but at its worst, a gambling problem can devastate a person’s life, affect their loved ones, mental health, livelihood, and more. The risk shouldn’t be underestimated, regulatory zeal suggests.
“From my study and understanding these pathways, it seems that the need for entertainment and escapism leads certain players. In other cases, they’re driven by more impulsivity issues and a lack of ability to control one’s behavior,” said Sally Gainsbury, Director of the University of Sydney Gambling Treatment & Research Clinic.
“This doesn’t only affect the individual themself, but also 6-10 people around them. That’s why it’s important to prevent harm before they reach this critical level.”
So what’s stopping operators from simply, you know, following Responsible Gaming regulations? “The biggest hurdle is the lack of understanding of the appropriate KPIs and required actions brought down by regulators to work best towards minimizing gambling harm,” said Gainsbury.
If operators limit their most active players, the VIPs of sorts, it’s only reasonable to assume they’ll suffer massive revenue hit, much higher than any fine. But acting on RG makes more financial sense than one might think. “In the modern iGaming world, which includes land-based casinos, sports betting, digital, and all gaming forms, you don’t have to choose between revenue and socially responsible gaming,” said Michael Pollock, Spectrum Gaming Group’s Managing Director.
“The companies that tend to be the most profitable and the market leaders are the ones that take this responsibility seriously for several reasons: One – if you’re irresponsible, you’re leaving your customers dry. You want the customer to afford what they are spending. That’s the heart of responsible Gaming. Two, if you want the public’s trust and to be recognized as one that can be trusted with their money, RG has to be front and center in your business practices. If not, you’re not going to be a market leader. And three, if you don’t take the responsibility seriously, regulators will prevent your brand from renewing your license,” added Pollock.
The solution
Optimove, the leading CRM Marketing platform, has a different approach to Responsible Gaming. It offers a predictive model to identify players-at-risk and recognizes three maturity levels of an operator regarding responsible Gaming:
- Basic – Providing players the ability to self-exclude at any time. This is typically also the most rudimentary requirement of most regulated regions.
- Competitive – Exploring the various attributes that players demonstrate before they self-exclude. By creating a segment of customers who self-excluded, operators can identify suspicious attributes to try and mitigate them and reduce the number of players who become at-risk players.
- Advanced – Implementing a machine learning algorithm that helps operators predict which players are likely to become at-risk ahead of time. Such algorithm also allows operators to differentiate between at-risk and VIP players, who often share a few similar attributes.
VIP or At-Risk?
In the UK there has been a clear move by the main Operators towards a mass market/recreational customer. The average player values dropped accordingly and VIP programs have basically came to an end. This has been driven by the concerns around problem gambling and the big overlap between what was previously described as a VIP and what is now understood to be problem gambling issues.
Many companies still have two separate departments, CRM and RG, but the reality is that the result of this operational setup and the contradictions between definitions of success in each field, means that the different teams are not necessarily driving in the same direction when it comes to player care.
Use outreach to educate
Instead of creating player journeys consisting of only promotional campaigns, operators should begin putting a heavier emphasis on educational and informative content that encourages players to adopt healthier behaviors and reduce the number of players who become at-risk.
Operators must communicate carefully in the competitive gaming market, where 1-to-1 marketing communications is still an integral part of the experience. By segmenting customers into tiers based on their risk levels and adjusting the informative-to-promotional campaign ratio accordingly, operators can maintain the marketing aspect, and improve their revenue, while instilling more robust socially responsible practices.
Metrics to monitor
If traditional CRM marketing focuses on promotional offers to measure incremental Net Gaming Revenue as the main KPI, socially responsible marketing mix needs to measure player migrations from one risk level to another and overall retention rates.
To identify the marketing strategies that work best to maintain a high level of healthy-player engagement, operators should measure their campaigns’ impact on player behavior over time. Similar to A/B/n testing different treatments, entire player-journeys should be tested to evaluate how they affect player behavior and risk-level migrations.
Using different CRM Marketing tools, like Optimove, operators can easily create entire marketing flows and monitor how players migrate from one risk level to another, and adjust their marketing strategies as necessary. Gaining insight into how both campaigns and flows perform can empower operators to optimize their marketing strategy and reduce the number of players who become at risk.
For instance, one gaming operator segmented its customers into tiers based on their low, medium, and high-risk levels. Players with a low-risk level were given the occasional promotional campaign, while players in the medium risk level received 30% of the promotional campaigns, and so forth.
The future
On the predictive side of things, there is a huge amount more that operators can be doing to identify behavioural issues at a much earlier point in the customer journey. Once predictive models – which help identify at-risk players – are in place, operators do not need take a manual binary decision on whether to cut the player off or leave them alone, but can begin taking the customer through a RG journey that may first provide instructive content around the issue. If the behaviour doesn’t change, then limits can be brought in before finally cutting the customer off.
In the near future Responsible Gaming will be integrated into all business sides and will not remain a siloed responsibility of few. That means an organizational overhaul around the issue as every department within an operator or platform must be guided by RG principles. For example, in CRM terms, it means CRM Teams will have:
- A clear understanding of what RG principles need to be followed.
- These principles will be converted to customer attributes that are easily trackable and monitorable.
- Teams will have programs in place to foment healthy gaming behavior.
- Teams will have marketing tools that autonomously redirect customers to those programs when needed (to prevent and amend situations).
Doing this at scale however is challenging which is why AI should be the lead in predicting, identifying and managing at-risk players. Once a player is identified as being at-risk, the AI algorithm will autonomously reassign them to the appropriate segment, where the messages are less salesy, focusing more on adjusting the behavior, understanding the problem better and taking a step back if needed.
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Reading Time: 2 minutes
SOFTSWISS, an international technology provider with over 15 years in the iGaming sector, has partnered with South African entities for the Responsible Gambling Summit 2025, reinforcing its commitment to safe, sustainable play in one of its key growth regions. The two-day summit, organised by the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation, brings together regulators, operators, and experts to advance harm minimisation and industry collaboration.
The Responsible Gambling Summit 2025 will take place from 13 to 14 November in Johannesburg, South Africa, and will include an awards gala dinner recognising initiatives in safer gambling. The programme spans policy, compliance, innovation, and public education, with sessions on illegal market impacts, regulatory development, and technology’s role in prevention and intervention. A SOFTSWISS representative will join the panel discussion ‘Innovation, Technology, and Responsible Gambling’, which explores emerging risks and mitigation strategies in digital environments.
“Industry partnership is essential to keep responsible gambling and player protection visible, effective, and evidence-based across channels. We greatly value the commitment and partnership of prominent international companies, such as SOFTSWISS, whose support brings expertise and resources to these important initiatives in South Africa,” said Sibongile Simelane-Quntana, Executive Director at the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation.
“South Africa is a priority market for SOFTSWISS, and we are proud to support this summit’s mission to advance safer play through collaboration and technology,” said Miranda Guliashvili, Head of Regional Growth at SOFTSWISS. “We continuously apply responsible gambling best practices in our products to help operators build sustainable, compliant growth.”
Building on this commitment, the SOFTSWISS Anti-Fraud team has delivered measurable results: from January to August 2025, it prevented over 15 million euro in fraudulent transactions, resolved more than 56,000 tasks, and processed 70 player complaints submitted to gaming regulators and forums. As fraud tactics evolve – including attempts to use AI-generated deepfakes during verification – SOFTSWISS is strengthening its tools and processes to help operators maintain a secure, transparent environment.
About SOFTSWISS
SOFTSWISS is an international technology company with over 15 years of experience in developing innovative solutions for the iGaming industry. SOFTSWISS provides comprehensive software for managing iGaming projects. The company’s product portfolio includes the Casino Platform, the Game Aggregator with over 35,000 casino games, Affilka Affiliate Platform, the Sportsbook Software and the Jackpot Aggregator. The expert team, based in Malta, Poland, and Georgia, counts over 2,000 employees.
The post SOFTSWISS Deepens Safer Play as Platinum Partner of Responsible Gambling Summit 2025 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Here are this weeks latest slots releases compiled by European Gaming
PG Soft, a world-class digital mobile games company, has released its powerful new title, Kraken Gold Rush. PG Soft’s game invites players to embark on the perilous high seas and navigate past The Kraken’s monstrous tentacles, desperate to drag ships into the abyss. Sticky Wilds and multipliers reaching x100 help players hunt down a legendary haul of 10 million gold coins.
Evoplay has launched Velvet Gems, a glamorous slot filled with sparkling stones, seamless gameplay, and high reward potential. The game immerses players in a luxurious realm of shimmering rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, where each spin radiates opulence. Striking visuals and a refined soundtrack create a premium atmosphere, making it a perfect choice for players seeking an elegant, feature-rich experience.
The authorities thought they’d finally locked away The Syndicate, the most notorious crew of fugitives in history. But in Nolimit City’s latest release, Breakout, not even a maximum security prison can hold them. This jailbreak-themed slot adds to the list of this year’s releases; Dead Men Walking, Tsar Wars and Kill Em All.
Think you are brave enough to return to the Castle of Terror? This lab experiment-horror sequel from Big Time Gaming is a bone-chilling adventure packed with electrifying features designed to give you the fright of your life. This is a slot where players find themselves in a spooky lab where they must brace themselves for Bonus Respins that are triggered by landing Scatters.
BGaming brings the party to the reels with the release of its latest slot, Fiesta Clusters. This vibrant, highly volatile slice of action combines the celebratory spirit of Cinco de Mayo with the expressive artistry of Día de los Muertos, delivering vibrant thrills for players and a seasonal spike potential for operators around Halloween.
Push Gaming is set to deliver twice the thrills this Halloween with the release of two new seasonal titles, Tarot Treasures and Tricky Treats. Both games highlight the recent launch of Push Gaming’s new product segmentation. Push Action delivers titles with enhanced layers of mechanics and player interaction, a category which Tarot Treasures proudly joins.
Spinomenal has launched Buffalo Rampage – Hold & Hit 3×3, a 3×3 reel, 5 lines video slot. Buffalo Rampage – Hold & Hit 3×3 unfolds across a sun-scorched desert at dusk, framed by towering cacti and brought to life with a slow-paced and Western-inspired soundtrack that immerses players in the action.
TaDa Gaming, has added some dark magic to its TriLuck slots series with its five reels, three rows and 50 fixed paylines new game, 3 Witch’s Lamp. Green, Purple and Blue Potion Pot Scatters can trigger the bonus game’s free spins, five fixed jackpots, ignite coins for wins and increase the bonus prizes.
Blueprint Gaming has introduced a new four pots mechanic and enlarged 5×3 grid to its latest release, Cash Strike Power Force 5, marking an innovative double debut for the internationally recognised series. With various iterations from the Cash Strike family consistently ranking in the supplier’s top 10 revenue-generating markets, the new title builds on the impressive momentum from its predecessors.
Play’n GO invites players underwater in Bubblin’ Riches, a 6×4 slot where golden coins and greedy fish collide for submerged surprises. Set in a playful underwater reef, Bubblin’ Riches brings a burst of colour and charm to the reels. At the heart of the action is a bloated Goldfish with a hoarding habit – every Coin Scatter that lands could feed its fortune, or set off a surprise payout.
Playson turns up the heat in its scorching new release Flaming Bells: Hold and Win, where nostalgic gameplay is reinspired with a 5,000x Grand Jackpot, Extra Bonus Game and valuable Multipliers. Collect symbols gather all visible cash values from the reels, including other Collect icons and the three in-game Jackpot symbol values.
ELA Games beckons players to step into a shadowy realm of sorcery and mystery with its newest release: Witches’ Book. Bathe in the magic as a powerful coven of three witches conjures their spells across the reels, revealing mysterious rewards and surprises. Each spin is a step toward ultimate strength, where massive riches and bubbling magic await.
Amusnet has released its latest online video slot, 27 Wild Shots. This vibrant slot game blends the style of classic fruit games with the charm of a fairytale twist, led by none other than the Little Red Riding Hood herself. The three reels burst with familiar symbols of juicy fruits, reimagined in a lively forest theme.
The post Week 42/2025 slot games releases appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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