888 unveils increased safer gambling measures during Covid-19

888 tightened its safer gambling measures during the Covid-19 lockdown culminating in a doubling of the number of restricted user accounts on the platform.

The London-listed operator revealed several targeted measures aimed at discouraging problem gambling throughout lockdown, including a temporary freeze on all bonus offers to UK players who demonstrated markers of harm.

“We recognised early in the Covid-19 pandemic that, with people spending more time at home and with potentially increased levels of stress, our vigilance on safe gambling and preventing gambling-related harm was even more important than ever,” 888 said.

888 introduced new Covid-19 specific algorithms to its Observer safer gambling platform aimed at identifying and flagging potential at-risk gambling in lockdown.

“It’s a very clever and sophisticated algorithm that identifies potential patterns of problem gambling, notifying our teams that action is needed on that player’s account,” 888 CEO Itai Pazner explained.

“They can then take action, whether it be communicating with the player directly, imposing limits or blocking players entirely where needed,” he added.

In addition, the operator conducted a programme of targeted communication to ensure customers could enjoy safe gambling across its brands by sending signposted emails to players with tools and guides.

888 also re-launched its “Too much is too much” safer gambling campaign from January to coincide with the lockdown period with the aim of developing awareness of excessive gambling behaviours.

It is also conducting an ongoing review of potentially at-risk accounts to ensure that their financial situation has not altered since the beginning of the pandemic.

The operator revealed development of a new safer gambling feature known as Control Centre is underway to be rolled out across 888 products by the end of 2020.

The Control Centre will sit across each of 888’s websites and will provide customers with an interactive interface to help them better understand their gambling behaviour and to increase the prominence of 888’s safer gambling tools.

“The centre is an intuitive dashboard for players with tools which can help them support themselves and enjoy online gaming without feeling that they have to put themselves in any kind of risk or financial risk,” Pazner explained.

“We’re going to be promoting this quite heavily to our players, making sure that they have access and that whoever wants to set a limit can do so.

“Where we see it’s necessary, those individuals are referred to our limit setting tools and if they don’t set a limit, we will set one for them,” he added.