Woah, get us – we’re back! Again! A day late, admittedly, but we think we can put this down to Jon getting dumped (again). I mean, when the common factor in a string of disastrous relationships is you, you’ve got to start thinking at some point… Luckily, I don’t think he reads these notes, so let’s just keep this between us, right?
Anyway, the episode – brought to you by those titans at GLI!
Clinical psychologist and gambling researcher Jakob Jonsson joins hosts Jon Bruford and Dr Michael Auer to discuss problem gambling, its overlapping causes, and prevention. They examine Sweden’s self-exclusion system, the promise and risks of industry-funded research, and how regulation and player protections can reduce harm.
This episode comes to you courtesy of the excellent Gaming Laboratories International.
GLI is a world-class testing, inspections and certification company committed to delivering the highest quality land-based, lottery and iGaming testing and assessment services, working in more than 710 jurisdictions.
For more information, visit gaminglabs.com.
What we talk about but made to look even sexier thanks to some bullet points:
- Jakob Jonsson’s work spans clinical treatment, research into preventing problem gambling, and collaboration with gambling companies.
- Gambling disorder can precede anxiety or depression, worsen pre-existing conditions, or occur alongside alcohol problems and other addictions; treatment-seeking patients may not represent all people affected.
- Jonsson discusses the Blaszczynski and Nower three-pathway model: behaviourally conditioned, emotionally vulnerable, and impulsive pathways.
- Sweden’s central Spelpaus self-exclusion system had about 130,000 people registered out of a population of roughly 10 million; Jonsson says it can help, though excluded players may still access unregulated sites.
- Jonsson supports carefully governed industry collaboration because operators can provide real-world behavioural data and a setting to test interventions, while emphasizing academic freedom and the risk of influence.
- Examples of interventions discussed include personalized feedback, play-break durations, limits, affordability checks, and testing how customers experience protective measures.
- Jonsson argues operators have a duty to care for their customers and that claims customers will migrate elsewhere do not excuse weak protections; he favours tougher regulation.
- The hosts explore whether broader behavioural profiling could identify risk, while noting that different pathways make a universal screening approach unlikely.
- A historical example from Svenska Spel suggests customers may respond more positively to required limits in practice than they predict in advance.
- The conversation briefly turns to online poker’s decline, including the need for a large player pool, changing legislation, and the economics of casino space.
Chapters, but add some time because of the ad read and the music. Did you know Dr Auer wrote and recorded the music all by himself? I KNOW RIGHT:
- 00:00 A birthday chat, strength goals, and introducing Jakob Jonsson
- 03:33 A psychologist’s three roles in gambling harm prevention
- 05:33 Comorbidity: when gambling problems coexist with other difficulties
- 07:58 Three pathways into problem gambling
- 09:24 Why gambling can create problems, not just accompany them
- 12:09 Sweden’s 130,000 self-exclusions and the unregulated market
- 14:57 The benefits and risks of industry-linked research
- 18:18 Understanding what gambling does for a person
- 20:28 Testing interventions with real-world player data
- 23:09 Operator responsibility, regulation, and customer migration
- 27:07 Could broader behavioural questions flag risk?
- 30:04 Affordability checks, friction, and customer experience
- 33:31 Limits at signup: what customers say versus what they do
- 35:10 Why online poker lost its former momentum
- 38:46 Swedish football favourites and the episode’s close
Jakob Jonsson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakob-jonsson-sustainable-interaction/
Resources & Links:
The Gambling Files on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-gambling-files-podcast/
Addiction: An Hour With Auer is a weekly podcast where hosts Dr Michael Auer – he of the title – and Jon Bruford talk about addiction in all its forms. Not just gambling addiction, they discuss all forms of addiction with experts, academics and researchers from around the world.
Dr Auer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-auer-51a48a/
Jon Bruford on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-bruford-84346636/
Podcast homepage: https://www.thegamblingfiles.com/addiction/
Media behemoth homepage: https://www.thegamblingfiles.com/
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