LeoVegas Partners with Swedish University Research Team to for Gambling Harm Study

Operating giant LeoVegas is partnering with a Swedish university research team on a problem gambling study in a proactive attempt to identify signs of problem gambling earlier.  

The Study

Sweden-based Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience of the academic team is the partner for a four-year initiative committed to “strengthening and expanding” methods for identifying and preventing problem gambling through the operator’s customer data.

The Model 

The comprehensive analysis seeks to develop, evaluate and implement new mental illness-focused mapping and identification tools.

The Collaboration

LeoVegas provides the funding and data, in cooperation with associate professor and research team leader Philip Lindner.

LeoVegas Goals

The Sweden-based iGaming powerhouse cited the initiative as a component of the wider organisational goals of reducing the harmful effects of gambling through informing the topical responsible gambling debate with evidence-based observation.

LeoVegas Chief Speaks

LeoVegas CEO Gustaf Hagman explained the priority of responsible gaming for the LeoVegas Group:

“We believe that our industry must take greater responsibility for contributing knowledge and facts about gambling-related problems, and learning how to minimise these issues."

Significance of Research

Hagman further expressed overall organisational pride in partnering with Karolinska Institutet  in carrying out what he called “valuable research” in the future hopes that “decision-makers and the igaming industry will be able to apply the findings in order to support more responsible gambling.”

Research Team Leader Speaks

The contribution to the industry as a whole and the betterment of society was echoed as a priority by team leader Lindner:

“As researchers at universities, we have a duty to spread knowledge that is useful to society. This collaboration gives us a unique opportunity to study data that hasn’t previously been available for research."

Study Focus

Lindner identified the priority of providing “new ways of identifying and helping players at risk, at the earliest possible stage.”

Safer Gambling Week

The project has been announced during the fifth year of UK’s Safer Gambling Week, the annual event where  the industry shares tools and information to reduce gambling harm by encouraging all players to understand their own habits better.

Study Benefits

While Safer Gambling week encourages players to be more reflective in order to equip themselves with the tools to self-manage better, the LeoVegas study stands as an effective complement to show the industry cares and provides some internal assistance to players.

Outlook

This looks like the best use of gaming data to date. Instead of using it just to engage players, the data certainly as an added value as far as providing consumer information that can protect players as well.