Vixio report provides overview of global regulatory trends in Player Protection including the use of AI, affordability checks, AML, advertising, and more

During this week’s Safer Gambling Week, Vixio, a leading provider of regulatory intelligence solutions, has released its Player Protection Outlook, reviewing the key regulatory updates, insights and trends in player protection and responsible gambling.

With increasing pressure from regulators and other policymakers to address gambling-related social harms, player protection has come to the forefront of regulatory initiatives in the global online gambling industry. Furthermore, technological advancements and AI-powered tools have enabled new options for player monitoring. The report comes during Safer Gambling Week, an industry initiative that promotes safer gambling in the UK and Ireland.

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“The sharpening policy focus on issues of player protection unites major jurisdictions worldwide, with lawmakers, regulators and the industry alike seeking to mitigate negative impacts of gambling and leverage new technologies but not always agreeing on the most appropriate ways of doing so,” said James Kilsby, Chief Analyst, Vixio GamblingCompliance. “Through 2025 and beyond, we expect to see policy approaches to affordability, operators’ duty of care and other concepts continue to evolve in Europe, North America and in other global markets.” 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic for player protection as it offers the ability to help monitor and rapidly analyse player behaviour, and could be used for chat assistance through large language models (LLMs). For more information on the use of AI in gambling regulation, see the Vixio Artificial Intelligence Outlook, which covers the key global regulatory developments regarding AI and applications for consumer protection.

Another area of policy attention in player protection is around affordability checks, also known as financial risk or vulnerability checks, which involves operators checking players’ financial information to understand if they can afford their gambling.

As highlighted by the report, jurisdictions with significant pending legislation around player protection include Australia, Argentina, Colombia, Croatia, Finland, Latvia, Spain, the UK, and the U.S. In Europe, countries like the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Norway already have wide ranging player protection provisions within their established regulations.

This report is part of Vixio GamblingCompliance’s Outlook series, which provides subscribers with  forward-looking insights, data analysis and consolidated research on key segments of the global gambling industry.

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New content partnership sees maverick game studio hit Octavian Lab platform

Award-winning game studio Peter & Sons has amped up its presence in the Italian market thanks to a new deal with Octavian Lab.

Rome-based software provider Octavian is a major supplier of igaming solutions to the Italian market, and the deal sees it become one of Peter & Sons’ main aggregate partners in Italy. The company powers big players like Entain-owned Eurobet, Snaitech, Sisal, Betfair and many others. Octavian Lab has recently received a special mention as best aggregator of the year during EGR Italy awards 2024.

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Under the new partnership, Peter & Sons first went live with Italian gaming powerhouse Eurobet. Founded in 1995, the brand is an igaming pioneer, having offered digital betting since 1999. As a land-based sports betting operator, it’s one of the most recognizable gaming brands in Italy.

Peter & Sons has been wowing the industry since its 2019 formation with a stream of games that dare to be different.

Drawing on influences from everything from cult comic books and cartoons to obscure science fiction, and with an emphasis on storytelling, audio-visual excellence and playability, the maverick Barcelona-based studio is creating some of the most strikingly original and avant garde casino games on the market today.

The studio picked up three awards at the recent MiGEA Malta iGaming Excellence Awards 2024, including Best New Slots Developer of The Year.

Yann Bautista, Founder and Commercial Director at Peter & Sons said: “Our games have already proved popular in Italy, so to move forward with a really big player like Octavian Lab was the next logical step. Italy is a very exciting market that has doubled in size over the last seven years, and we’re thrilled to increase our reach significantly through this deal.”

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Emanuele Nocentelli, CEO at Octavian Lab said: “Our platform powers some of the biggest names in Italian gaming, and that means we always want leading-edge content. Peter & Sons are a breath of fresh air. There’s no one reimagining casino gaming quite like Peter & Sons, and the result is a portfolio of inventive and unparalleled games that have a unique power to delight.”

Stacked Walking Wilds and Power Reset feature deliver 3,000x win potential

Independent slots studio Thunderkick has unveiled Split Happens, the latest addition to its product portfolio that combines a quirky bowling theme with Walking Wilds and respins to provide a unique and compelling gaming experience.

The action takes place across a classic 5×3 grid, where winning combinations can be formed both ways to help unlock 3,000x maximum wins.

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Base game action is enhanced by Walking Stacked Wilds, which award a minimum of two respins whenever reels two, three or four are filled with bowling pin Wild symbols. Wilds are transformed into Stacked Wilds and move one position toward the outside of the reels with each respin, boosting wins until they leave the grid.

If a Walking Stacked Wild lands on reel three, the Split Happens feature is triggered, cutting the icon in half and placing a Stacked Wild on both reels two and four before respins commence.

The bonus round is activated when three bowling ball scatters are collected in the bonus meter, with five Free Spins awarded. During the feature, a multiplier remains in place above the reels, which increases by 1x with each respin and is applied to all wins featuring a Stacked Wild.

Every time a Stacked Wild lands, the Power Reset feature resets the Free Spins counter to 5, while retaining the existing multiplier to significantly increase wins.

Split Happens is a vibrant addition to Thunderkick’s constantly evolving product portfolio that showcases the provider’s distinctive approach to game creation, leveraging its best-in-class production team to deliver immersive and entertaining gameplay.

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Mike Collins, Game Product Owner at Thunderkick, said: “We continually strive to diversify our product portfolio to appeal to a broad player base. Split Happens is our latest creation that combines whimsical graphics with 3,000x win potential to provide something a little different for players.

“In a highly competitive market, embracing themes rarely utilised allows us to stand out as a brand and provide real value for our operator partners.”