The initiative will run for a period of four years, with LeoVegas and the university aiming to strengthen and expand the methods for identifying and preventing problem gambling by studying the operator’s customer data.
This will include developing, evaluating and implementing new tools for both mapping and treating mental illness.
LeoVegas will provide the funding and raw data to the research team, with the project due to begin this autumn. Philip Lindner, an associate professor and leader of the university’s research unit, will lead the project.
The operator said the initiative forms part of its wider efforts to inform the debate about responsible gaming by providing research to support evidence-based discussions, with the overall aim of reducing the harmful effects of gambling.
“Responsible gaming is an important priority for LeoVegas Group,” LeoVegas chief executive Gustaf Hagman said. “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.
“We are proud to be partnering with Karolinska Institutet to carry out this valuable research and hope that decision-makers and the igaming industry will be able to apply the findings in order to support more responsible gambling.”
Lindner added: “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.
“We hope that the collaboration will lead to new ways of identifying and helping players at risk, at the earliest possible stage.”
Confirmation of the new research project comes in the middle of this year’s Safer Gambling Week, a UK-focused initiative that is now in its fifth year.
Each year, the industry shares tools and information that can help to reduce gambling harm.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/social-responsibility/responsible-gambling/leovegas-partners-swedish-university-for-problem-gambling-research-project/
