Legislation
Aland – Paf research claims ‘mandatory loss limits is the right way forward’
By Phil - 17 February 2020
Aland operator Paf has funded research that has found that voluntary gaming limits have no noticeable effect on the intensity of gaming and that mandatory loss limits is the right way forward.
The importance of voluntary gaming limits created headlines in the gaming industry in Europe because it called into question the effectiveness of voluntary gaming limits. According to the research.
Researcher Ekaterina Ivanova has been researching gaming responsibility for the past four years at Stockholm University in a research project funded by Paf.
The research has focused on gambling, gaming limits, gaming behaviour, attitudes towards gaming tools and the likelihood of predicting gambling problems. Ekaterina believes that research into gambling problems is falling behind.
“It is absolutely essential to prove that gaming responsibility tools have an effect and show how they make that effect. Otherwise the gaming companies can continue to market themselves as responsible, even though their tools are poor,” she said. “We are falling behind with both prevention and treatment from a public health perspective. My colleagues would agree that gambling problems are not taken as seriously as, for example, alcohol abuse. This attitude is reflected, in return, on those affected by gambling – where it can still be seen more as a character problem for those people rather than a disease.”
In addition to giving the research financial support, Paf has also provided access to real data from Paf’s own online games. This gaming data has been used to carry out the analysis in the research.
Daniela Johansson, Paf’s Deputy CEO and Chief Responsibility Officer, said: “We are proud to have contributed to taking the research into gaming responsibility one step further. The research can help us all gain a better understanding of the tools and methods that are proven to provide better gaming responsibility.”
Gaming companies can continue to claim that they are responsible because the research on gaming responsibility is incomplete, although this fact also means that there is no concrete evidence to support the gaming responsibility tools being used.
“Voluntary gaming limits just don’t seem to produce a desirable effect. All the collected research supports this fact,” Ms Ivanova added. “It is absolutely essential to prove that gaming responsibility tools have an effect and show how they make that effect. Otherwise the gaming companies can continue to market themselves as responsible, even though their tools are poor. The mandatory loss limit that Paf has implemented is definitely a step in the right direction. Such a measure needs to be thoroughly tested.”
Caption: Ekaterina Ivanova at Stockholm University & Daniela Johansson deputy CEO & CRO at Paf
