LeoVegas to support gambling-related harm research in Sweden

LeoVegas has entered into a four-year partnership with the Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience to support research into preventing gambling-related harm.

The partnership will see the operator and the Stockholm-based university work together to improve understanding of how to identify signs of problem gambling and how to prevent it.

LeoVegas will provide funding and raw data to the research team, with the project pencilled to begin this autumn.

The Karolinska Institutet’s team will study LeoVegas customer data to develop new tools for mapping and treating mental illness.

While LeoVegas is funding the project, the research team will be afforded academic freedom, with their findings to be separately submitted for ethical review.

Gustaf Hagman, LeoVegas CEO, said there was a need for the industry to lead from the front on responsible gambling.

Hagman said: “Responsible gaming is an important priority for LeoVegas Group. 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,” he added.

Philip Lindner, Karolinska Institutet associate professor, commented: “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.”