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GambleAware Report Offers Guidance to Avoid “Stigmatising Language”
GambleAware has published a scoping study which shows that a significant amount of published research on gambling harms uses stigmatising language and makes a number of recommendations for future best practice.
The report authors – Dr Anne Stangl, Triantafyllos Pliakas and Mariana Siapka, who have published widely on the subject of stigmatisation – analysed evidence on stigma, discrimination and gambling from 54 individual studies and nine review papers across 19 countries.
The paper provides key recommendations for further research, service provision, policy, and media campaigns to help reduce stigma and discrimination experienced by people who gamble.
The recommendations for researchers and others working on gambling harms include using person-first language in studies and campaigns in order to underline that gambling disorder is a mental disorder, not a label or identity.
- For example, use “person with a gambling disorder” or “person who struggles with gambling” instead of “gambling addict” or “problem gambler”.
- Using person-first language also shows that a person with gambling disorder “has” a problem, rather than “is” the problem.
- Person-first language helps to reduce the risk of eliciting negative associations or attitudes, or the risk of the person in question feeling blamed.
- Stigmatising terms should not be used about people who experience gambling harms. For example, the term “addict” is stigmatising because it reduces a person down to their disorder.
The report found that many existing studies in gambling research report have fallen foul of these guidelines and used stigmatising language to describe people with gambling problems, indicating how some existing research may itself risk contributing to stigma around gambling.
The report also examined stigma in other contexts and found that the ways in which gambling stigma arises, and the damaging effects it can have on people, are similar to those for stigma around a wide range of health behaviours and conditions, such as mental health, drug and alcohol use, cancer, obesity and HIV. For people working in healthcare settings, the report makes a number of recommendations on how to avoid reinforcing stigma around gambling:
- Involving people with lived experience of gambling harms in training and research
- Raising healthcare professionals’ awareness of what gambling stigma is and how it is harmful to people who struggle with gambling, as well as their families
- Training healthcare professionals on how gambling stigma can be an obstacle to treatment, and the strategies they can use to help services uses cope with gambling-related stigma
The recommendations and evidence gaps identified by this report will be used as the basis for further new research that GambleAware plans to fund in order to explore people’s lived experiences of stigma, understand which communities are most impacted by it, and set out potential solutions in both policy and society to tackle stigma.
Zoë Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, said: “Over the coming months and years, a major part of our work will be focused on reducing stigma and the barriers people face when accessing the support they need.
“We welcome the study findings and will use the recommendations to strengthen our work, including our public health campaigns to raise awareness of gambling harms and encourage people to get help.”
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Galaxsys, an innovative games studio, proudly announces the launch of its latest slot game, Guardians of Glory, an action-packed game that combines medieval warfare, innovative slot mechanics, and massive win potential for players worldwide.
Blending classic slot mechanics with high-octane action, Guardians of Glory is a 5-reel, 3-row cascading line slot designed to keep players on the edge of their seats. Each win triggers cascading symbols, offering continuous chances to strike and score big. The game’s standout Catapult Gamble Feature lets players earn instant wins and push their luck for multipliers up to x100, delivering a unique high-risk, high-reward experience.
Key Features and Highlights
- Catapult Gamble Feature: Players earn instant wins and can gamble for multipliers up to x100 with a high-risk “cash out before explosion” twist.
- Wild Sword Feature: Acts as a Wild, substituting for symbols (except Scatter and Shield) and stacking multipliers on an off-reel Guardian up to x1024.
- Shield Features: Randomly dropping with x1–x10 multipliers, carried forward to boost subsequent wins and stack with new Shields.
- Bonus Game: Triggered by 3 Scatters or purchased for 100x the bet, expanding to a 5×5 grid with Sticky Shields, Epic Swords, and Flags to extend spins and build multipliers.
- Max Win: Offers a maximum payout of x10,000 the bet for epic replay value.
Guardians of Glory joins the diverse portfolio of Galaxsys games, which continues to grow with new titles released every month.
The post Galaxsys Launches Action-Packed Slot: Guardians of Glory appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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This year has seen an explosion in uptake of the service, with strong uptake globally, with Brazil, the UK, the US, Romania, Canada, Kenya and South Africa showing the highest levels of engagement.
BetBlocker’s Founder and Managing Trustee, Duncan Garvie had this to say:
“We invested a lot in 2024 improving our data, to allow us to communicate accurately the performance of our project to our supporters, and to build confidence via transparency. That’s meant ensuring that our data is exactly what we say it is and a focus on making our data easy to understand. We don’t talk about downloads. The number would be higher, but far less meaningful. When we talk about “active users” it means “users with an active BetBlocker restriction in 2025.”
I’ve been blown away by the rate of growth that BetBlocker has seen this year. We would never have imagined that this type of growth was possible at the start of the year, but the rapid and sustained upward trend strongly evidences that there is a huge need for free and anonymous support for gambling harm.
That uptake is distributed so broadly across the globe also demonstrates how universal the need for support managing access to online gambling services is in the digital age.”
The post BetBlocker Surpasses a Quarter of a Million Active Users in 2025 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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Leading iGaming content provider Spinomenal has expanded its successful Mythology series with the launch of Mega Zeus Hold & Hit 3×3.
Set among the golden columns of Mount Olympus, Mega Zeus transports players to the realm of the mighty god of thunder. With Zeus himself sitting high above the reels, every spin ripples with energy and anticipation, carrying the potential for electrifying wins.
The temple of the gods acts as the Wild symbol and substitutes for all symbols except the Bonus and Bonus Collect. Mega Zeus Hold & Hit 3×3 has two Special Bonus symbols, the Bonus only lands on reels one and three, while the Bonus Collect lands just on reel two.
Players landing the Bonus Collect along with one or more Bonus symbols, will trigger the Bonus game. The triggering symbols remain locked during the move to the Bonus Game, which starts with three spins. During the feature, only Bonus symbols and Bonus Collect symbols can appear. Each spin has the chance to award multipliers ranging from x1, x2, x5, x7, x10, and x15, as well as any of the in-game jackpots.
Each time a Bonus symbol lands, it is collected by all Bonus Collect symbols, disappearing from the reels while its value tops up the Bonus Collect symbol’s total. Each Bonus Symbol or Bonus Collect symbol refills the spin counter to three. The round ends after three winless spins occur or when the total collected winnings reach the maximum x5000 multiplier.
Grand, Major, Minor and Mini in game Jackpot symbols can appear during the game and will trigger the corresponding Jackpot.
The Bonus Blast Feature may also activate randomly, adding extra Bonus and Bonus Collect symbols to the reels to help trigger the Bonus Game.
A Bonus Collect symbol with one or more Bonus symbols, including Jackpot symbols, but not launching the Bonus Game will collect the values and add to the total win.
Spinomenal CO-CEO, Omer Henya commented: “Mega Zeus is an almighty experience that unites electrifying features, a mythological atmosphere, and stunning visuals. It perfectly showcases our studio’s creative power and ability to deliver truly godlike entertainment.”
The post Spinomenal unveils Mega Zeus Hold & Hit 3×3 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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