Press Releases

UKGC: Experts by Experience interim group created

Published

1 year ago

June 22, 2020

UKGC: Experts by Experience interim group created

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The UK Gambling Commission has announced that it is working with an interim Experts by Experience Group who will provide advice, evidence and recommendations to the Commission to help inform decision making and raise standards, along with co-creating a permanent Experts by Experience Advisory Group to advise the regulator on a more established basis.

The creation of the interim forum follows a workshop in March, in which people with lived experience were asked to offer perspectives on key topics including High Value Customers, Advertising Technology and Safe Game design – three areas the regulator had challenged the industry to make progress on quickly. The Commission also publishes a report on these areas of work which includes Expert by Experience input on progress made so far.

The group also discussed ideas about how the Commission could better work with people with lived experience and the need for more effective engagement and collaboration to benefit consumers, working together to prevent harm and make gambling safer.

Gambling Commission Chief Executive, Neil McArthur, said: “Our goal is to make gambling safer for consumers and the creation of the interim group is another important step in helping us bring a wider range of perspectives into our work.

“We will work with the interim group to co-create a formal Advisory Board, which will allow us to involve Experts by Experience more closely in the development of our regulatory framework.

“I am really grateful for the open and constructive way in which members of the interim group have shared their personal experiences of gambling related harm and for everyone’s commitment to work together to tackle these important issues. It is early days and we are learning along the way to ensure that feedback and advice is utilised in the most effective way. This week we looked at the subject of affordability and we’ll be focused on other areas of player protection online in the weeks ahead.’

A spokesperson for the Interim Group said: “The Interim Group comprises a group of people who have suffered a wide range of gambling harms, including recovering gambling addicts, family and partners of addicts, and those who have lost children to gambling suicides.

“The role that is too often allocated to Experts by Experience (EbEs) of telling our stories and commenting on narrowly defined questions is ineffective, so the establishment of the group is long overdue.

“We are determined that EbEs should play a continuing and much more active role in the deliberations and decision making across the whole remit of the Commission as part of the National Strategy to reduce gambling harms. We bring a new and vital perspective on key issues of regulation and even how the Commission itself works.

“We and they are learning how we can best work together, but we feel that there is a genuine commitment all round to make it work. Some of our comments were incorporated into the progress update on the industry-led working groups, but in future we may issue our own comments on issues that we have consulted with the Commission. We appreciate that the Commission recognises the value of our input, but we differ on certain key issues. Notably on how far and how fast improvements can be made. We look forward to working with the Commission.”

The interim group will be in place for at least the next six months, when the Commission plans to move to a permanent Advisory Group, which will add to other advice that the regulator receives through groups such as the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling and the Digital Advisory Panel.

This valuable input will add to the Commission’s other approaches currently used to include the views of consumers in their work. This includes information and feedback received from the consumer contact centre, online consumer research panels and engagement and consultations on regulatory changes.

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Press Releases

Slotmill’s seals agreement with Vavada

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2021

Zoltan Tundik

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Slotmill has concluded an agreement with online casino Vavada which rapidly has secured a significant market position targeting central- and eastern Europe. Vavada offers a wide range of products and will now add the Slotmill game portfolio. Delivery of the Slotmill games will be through the partnership with Relax.

Johan Ohman, the founder of Slotmill, commented: “The addition of Vavada is very satisfying and I believe that the BURST function and rich player experience will make the Slotmill games well received by the Vavada players.”

Max Petrovski, COO at Vavada, said: “At Vavada, we believe that the addition of Slotmill games fits in perfectly with our product strategy. We aim to provide games that offer quality together with a fun game experience to clients and we believe Slotmill games offer just that.”

Africa

SOFTSWISS Sportsbook launches N1Bet.ng

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2021

George Miller

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The SOFTSWISS Sportsbook is excited to announce the launch of N1Bet.ng in partnership with N1 Group this September. The platform will launch under a local license in Nigeria, which SOFTSWISS received earlier in February 2021.

N1Bet.ng will be the first betting platform launched by SOFTSWISS Sportsbook in Africa. This launch is a natural step in the development of the SOFTSWISS Sportsbook brand, which is ready to offer new customers reliable solutions and an innovative approach based on more than a decade of experience.

Under the new joint project between N1Group and SOFTSWISS players will have access to the platform’s complete sports betting solution package:

10,000+ real-time events
200+ sports
1,200 unique betting markets

Even though N1Bet.ng is positioned as a betting platform, gambling solutions will also be included in the range of available services. Users will be pleased with the user-friendly and clear interface designed with their wishes in mind, as well as the mobile version, which will allow them to manage their bets from anywhere at any time. Among other things, players will have access to new features, including three types of Freebet, Comboboost, Quickbet, Maxbet and more.

Alexander Kamenetskyi, Product Owner at SoftSwiss Sportsbook, noted: ‘We have been working on the launch of our first project in the African market for a long time and see this as a unique opportunity to be part of the large and fast-growing iGaming industry in this region. We have a lot to offer and something to interest all betting enthusiasts. The launch of N1Bet.ng will allow SOFTSWISS to provide services to those customers who are interested in a comprehensive approach and focus on the African market or want to expand their presence there. With N1Bet.ng this will now become easier and more accessible. Thank you N1 Group for the fruitful cooperation and trust!’

About SOFTSWISS

SOFTSWISS is an international tech brand supplying widely acclaimed, certified software solutions for managing iGaming operations. SOFTSWISS holds a number of gaming licenses, providing a “one-stop-shop” white label solution by taking care of all technical, legal, and financial processes on behalf of its customers. The company has a vast product portfolio, which includes an Online Casino Platform, Game Aggregator with thousands of casino games, the Affilka affiliate platform, and a sportsbook software platform. In 2013 SOFTSWISS was the first in the world to introduce a bitcoin-optimized online casino solution. The company has thus been regarded as the leading technical expert when it comes to the use of cryptocurrencies in online gaming.

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PRAGMATIC PLAY HEADS OUT TO DEEP WATERS IN BIGGER BASS BONANZA

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2021

George Miller

PRAGMATIC PLAY HEADS OUT TO DEEP WATERS IN BIGGER BASS BONANZA

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Pragmatic Play, a leading content provider to the IGaming industry, has cast a line deeper than ever before and snagged a real catch with new release, Bigger Bass Bonanza.

A continuation of its hugely popular predecessor, Bigger Bass Bonanza provides players with an extended set of reels and the opportunity to win up to 4000x their stake, virtually doubling the original game’s maximum multiplier value.

Based in a neon-lit harbour with tropical surroundings resembling Miami, players will need to keep an eye out for various rewards and prizes. As before, three or more scatter symbols during base play will trigger the Free Spins feature and 10 spins, with any additional scatter symbol adding five spins to the count.

Big wins are achieved by collecting scatters in the Free Spins feature, but lower value wins are achievable through regular line wins.

During the Free Spins feature, money symbols feature randomly assigned values and an elusive Goldfish scatter symbol is worth 4000x the player’s bet. Wild symbols are also collected on a meter above the reels, with every four wilds retriggering the feature and a multiplier for the symbol collector.

Bigger Bass Bonanza is the latest hit developed by the leading provider, following recent popular titles 5 Lions Megaways, Fruit Party 2 and Rise of Giza PowerNudge and more than 200 HTML5 titles in the provider’s valued games portfolio.

Yossi Barzely, Chief Business Development Officer at Pragmatic Play, said: “We are delighted to launch another product in collaboration with Reel Kingdom, allowing us to reach more players than ever before.

“The light-hearted theme has been fleshed out with various new features, each with the intention of helping the fisherman enjoy a full catch.”

Pragmatic Play currently produces up to five new slot titles a month, while also delivering Live Casino and Bingo games as part of its multi-product portfolio, available through one single API.