A collaborative initiative involving the national gambling helpline Linka pomoci pre problémy s hraním and BetBlocker, the charity providing free, anonymous gambling blocking software, will extend its support to include the Slovak language.

The Slovakian population already exhibits a high level of engagement. BetBlocker has assisted numerous Slovakian users this year and is set to nearly double the number of users in Slovakia during the current year.

In recent years, Slovakia has experienced a notable increase in the demand for assistance related to gambling-related harm, as observed in numerous countries. In July 2025, the Slovak national self-exclusion registry (RVO) exceeded 20k signed-up users for the first time, and a report released by the Institute of Gambling Regulation in Slovakia (IPRHH) in August 2025 underscored rising worries that up to 300k Slovakians were using illegal gambling operators, with 13.1% of survey participants indicating they did this to bypass an RVO exclusion.

BetBlocker’s app-driven support effectively blocks both the legal and illegal gambling markets, assisting users in more firmly implementing their gambling restrictions.

Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, offered these comments: “We are really pleased to cooperate with Linka pomoci pre problémy s hraním to expand our support to Slovakia. Cooperating with local stakeholders to help expand awareness of the help that BetBlocker offers is the single most effective approach to reaching the audience that would benefit from BetBlocker. National support organisations have a understanding of their community and how to effectively communicate support messaging that BetBlocker’s small team could not hope to achieve independently.

BetBlocker is already experiencing rapidly growing uptake of support in Slovakia. This collaboration will supercharge that growth, ensuring that thousands of additional people, and their families and loved ones, have an additional option when it comes to finding help.

BetBlocker would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Linka pomoci pre problémy s hraním for helping us become more effective communicators to people experiencing gambling harm in Slovakia.”

Erik Kovac, a psychologist of Slovak gambling hotline Linka pomoci pre problémy s hraním, added the following: “BetBlocker is one of the standard first-aid tools we recommend for people who call our helpline and want to limit their online gambling. It is a great project and we are grateful for this collaboration.”

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Gambling harm prevention charity BetBlocker today reveals the extension of their award-winning assistance into Turkish.

In 2025, BetBlocker saw a tremendous increase in support, with more than three hundred thousand individual users initiating a block throughout the year. This significant level of engagement has been made possible by the diverse array of languages into which the charity has translated its assistance.

Yesilay, the main Turkish support service, reports that requests for help with gambling are now surpassing those for alcohol, drugs, or tobacco, alongside significant uptake and harm among youth, making the launch of Turkish language support timely and relevant.

Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, offered these comments: “BetBlocker is genuinely excited to roll out our second language expansion of 2026.

We’ve experienced phenomenal uptake of the service over the last 12 months and figures hare steadily rising. One of the biggest drivers of that growth has been improving the accessibility of our support by meeting users where they are and offering support in the language that they’re most comfortable accessing in.

Alongside Turkey itself, there are substantial Turkish speaking communities across Europe, the Middle East and North America. It is our hope that this evolution of BetBlocker will ensure that a deeper level of support is available more widely across the Turkish diaspora.

BetBlocker would like to offer our deepest thanks to Fatmatuz Zehra Pehlivan, a Clinical Psychologist and researcher, who volunteers Green Cresent in the field of addiction treatment. Fatmatuz volunteered her time to help translate our app, and every Turkish language user we support owe her their thanks for the donation of her time and expertise.

As with many of the communities BetBlocker now supports, we would not be able to reach so many people without the kindness and generosity of field experts like Fatmatuz.”

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In a thrilling beginning to 2026, BetBlocker reveals that its anonymous and free-to-use gambling management and blocking software is now accessible for native Greek speakers.

The BetBlocker team starts 2026 with an ongoing commitment to the charity’s growth into new languages. The driving forces at BetBlocker have long acknowledged that offering customized assistance in native languages is crucial for their users to maintain complete control over their gambling behaviors. Only at that point can gambling-related harms be averted. The recently launched Greek language edition is a significant contribution to the variety of languages already offered by the charity. Having more than 13 million Greek speakers documented globally is significant.

Although there has not been any recent comprehensive studies on the prevalence of problem gambling behaviors in the Greek population, a journal article released in 2019 by the National Library of Medicine indicated that:

2.4% of participants fulfilled the criteria for gambling problems. Male gender, being part of a minority, residing with one’s family of origin, low education, and minimal to no income were identified as risk factors for the disorder.

This emphasizes the necessity of offering both free and language-specific editions of BetBlocker’s software to at-risk native Greek speakers.

The BetBlocker team appreciates the assistance from EveryMatrix and Christina Theophilos, who contributed to translating the app.

Jake Cachia, Head of Compliance for EveryMatrix had this to say about the collaboration: “EveryMatrix is proud to partner with BetBlocker and support the Greek translation of the app. With BetBlocker now available in Greek, people in Greece can access the tool in their own language, making it easier to take practical steps to pause, stop, or reduce their gambling if they need to.”

Ms. Theophilos added: “As a Greek-Canadian with close family ties in Greece, it was an honour and a privilege to translate the BetBlocker app into Greek. Many people are unaware that they are gambling on illegal websites that offer no player protection and can cause serious financial and emotional harm, and while statistics suggest that at least 2.4% of the population may experience gambling addiction, the true number of individuals and families affected is likely much higher and often hidden.

I sincerely hope that operators will signpost BetBlocker.org to those in need, as this free tool allows individuals to self-exclude and block access to both licensed and illegal gambling websites, helping them regain a sense of control while they are in treatment and recovery, and until a national self-exclusion framework is fully in place—offering hope, dignity, and protection to all those who need it most.”

BetBlocker’s Chief of Safer Gambling Partnerships, Pedro Romero, was keen to recognise the value of the freshly launched Greek language version of the app: “Supporting people in their native language is not a “nice to have”, it is often the difference between someone successfully reaching a blocked state and giving up part way through set up. Blocking software can be technically involved, requiring multiple manual changes to device settings, and many people seek out this support when they are already under stress or at a point of crisis, so clarity and familiarity of language matters.
Language support also helps communities who can be underserved by national services, including people living as minorities in other countries, migrants, international workers, and anyone who cannot comfortably navigate technical instructions in the majority language. By prioritising localisation, not just direct translation, we help ensure BetBlocker is accessible, usable, and respectful across cultures, and easier for local partners to signpost effectively within the communities they support.”

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