Category Archives: Gambling

STAUNTON Lesley Lester said Staunton was her special place growing up. It's where she would spend her summers away from her home state of Kentucky with her extended family.

Now, she's happy to have an adult gaming location in the city to bring another entertainment option for the public.

Big Valley Staunton is a new adult gaming spot (18-and-over) on Greenville Avenue. It opened last week and has been getting some regular business, Lester said.

She's still trying to fill the place with furniture, but it currently has several pre-reveal games for people to play. There's no alcohol served, but she does pass out soda to customers.

"Most of our patrons have been 50 and over ... professionals, nurses, just really good people looking for something to do," Lester said. "if you do not drink orfrequent the bar scene downtown, this is an alternative."

According to Lester, these games gained more popularity during COVID-19 when people avoided larger casinos or gambling places, opting for these small machines that were set up in gas stations or convenience stores.

In 2020,skill gaming were temporarily allowed before being banned in 2021. The goal was to help brick-and-mortar businesses, like convenience stores, bars and restaurants, and truck stops to offset revenue losses caused by the pandemic, according to an article by Casino.org.

Video gaming terminals, what can been seen at Lester's place, mimic the operations of a traditional slot machine theyre taxed and highly regulated, Casino.org said. Video gaming terminals are allowed outside of casinos in seven states:Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginiaand Georgia, the article said.

These games in her store are different than skilled games that Virginia has seen in the past few years. Pre-reveal games have no chance, she said.

"They do not constitute gambling devices as defined under Virginia code," she said.

She's taking her own gamble with these games, because laws could change, much like what was seen with skilled games.

"Future legislation may significantly affect the manner in which the statutory forms reflecting this section may be defined or enforced. We do have to remain attentive to future proposed like legislation and stuff like that," she added."But so far, nothing. That's why they're popping up everywhere. If they were considered illegal, they would not be in all these gases. Nobody wants to $25,000 fine. They're not enforced by the agency yet either."

Lester said they are keeping a close eye on legislation.

"Where this one is considered a pre-reveal and not a game of chance. It's not a gamble if you know what's going to happen," she said. "So these are considered more adult games than actual gambling devices."

Previously, Waynesboro had a similar operation, but with skilled games. The Bank Arcade closed during COVID-19 and offered skilled gambling games and other arcade games for adults.

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As of July 1, skilled games were deemed illegal by the Virginia ABC.

According to GamblingSites.org, a skill game is similar to tradition slots, but can be more skill-based. Skill games can feature spinning reels, paylines and a high degree of chance but it does require some strategy, GamblingSites.org said.

For pre-reveal games, it'll show if you win the next bet.Pre-reveal games allow the customer to push a button to see if they will win in the next round. Lester says some customers jump around to several different games on the gaming machine to find a win with the pre-reveal button.

"Given that you already know if youll win or lose, pre-reveal games dont constitute traditional gambling," GamblingSites.org said.

Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses?Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) atlpeters@newsleader.com.Follow her@peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.

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New gaming spot skirts around gambling laws with pre-reveal games - Staunton News Leader

The pandemic has given a boost to the online gaming industry, according to Anton Rublievskyi, CEO, PMI, a betting company in the gaming industry. According to Rublievskyi, the online betting platform PMI has seen a 33 per cent increase in its turnover. Speaking to BusinessLine, he touches upon the issues regarding gambling in India, along with his thoughts on why it should be legalized.

How has the pandemic really challenged the prediction gaming industry to become more innovative?

Pandemic has hugely changed the prediction gaming industry. Last year was great for the online gambling market despite the pandemic. As people stayed at home without the proper understanding of their future, as well as mankind as a whole, it was essential for them to indulge in activities that give them happiness and enjoyment. While everyone was following lockdowns and Covid-19 protocols implemented by their local governments, so they had tried to find new indoor activities to deal with the health crisis and its effects. As a result, many people had resorted to online gaming and gambling activities.

Over the past year-and-half, what is the growth that Parimatch has seen on its platform?

Every time there's an IPL, the industry shows a significant amount of growth. Search intent jumps up to 2.5-3 times, depending on the brand and its investments into the advertising. The amount of active customers per brand is growing very close to that number. There are some certain cohorts of players who just bet on IPL and reactivate every year just because of that. Referring to Parimatchs success around IPL, the company's turnover grew by 33%. Since the IPL was postponed from April to October owing to the pandemic, we were a bit doubtful about how the turnout would be and the response in the betting landscape but weve seen a tremendous growth pattern ever since and a great response from the recently concluded IPL.

Also read: No interim relief for petitioners challenging Karnatakas online gambling law

In the backdrop of a lot of backlashes over the iGaming industry, what is the way forward?

I would say creating strict rules and regulations and educating the legal authorities is the way forward. Betting players can help users to become the main drivers of legalization and I feel if the masses show their need then the government will listen to them and find ways to follow it. There are multiple examples in the emerging markets, such as Africa when legalization helped to boost the economy significantly. The massive availability of sports betting can create enormous taxes for the State and the nation as a whole. It can help the State earn money that can help them fund ongoing and upcoming projects, making them more progressive.

Is legalizing betting an option that could be weighed. If yes, why?

We would like to see betting getting legalised in India with a proper legal infrastructure to monitor the operations. We foresee State-by-State legalization in the next 3-5 years, the same way the US market has been doing it. Yes, India is a highly populated country hence introducing and imposing certain rules sometimes gets a bit difficult keeping different sentiments in mind but in the long run, if betting is legalised in a proper way in India, it can become a great revenue source for the country.

In our opinion, legalising betting can be a good source of income and can add to the economy with huge tax income, many new job opportunities (for both online and offline), proper legal tools to protect the players from the scam operators and fraudsters, proper payment providers to speed up the processes within the industry. And as a result of legalization - growth of the industry and stigma removal leading to the growth of the entire nation.

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Many people took to online gaming and gambling activities during the pandemic - The Hindu BusinessLine

Everyone seems to have an opinion about which team Carlos Correa will sign with as a free agent. If you're feeling really confident about your guess, you can even bet on it.

The folks at sportsbetting.ag put together odds on Correa's landing spot and have narrowed the possibilities to 10 teams.

The Detroit Tigers are the betting favorite to land Correa at +150 (meaning you would win $150 on a $100 bet on the Tigers). Those odds likely are helped by those photos of Correa eating with Tigers manager A.J. Hinch last week in Houston.

The Yankees, who also have engaged in talks with Correa, are next at +200, which equates to 2-to-1 odds. The Astros, whose preliminary offers weren't close to Correa's presumed $300 million price tag,are 3-to-1 (+300) to retain their shortstop.

It almost would be fun to see Correa sign with the next team on the list - the Dodgers at 4-to-1 - just to watch their fans' mental gymnastics as they try to reason why they no longer hate the man they lustily boo every time they see him.

From there, you get much bigger long shots: Blue Jays (6-to-1), Mets (7-to-1), Mariners (+750), Cardinals (10-to-1), Rangers (12-to-1) and Rockies (14-to-1).

Sportsbetting.ag has odds on 10 other free agents, and it has the Astros as possibilities for four of them. The site has the Astros as 3-to-1 to sign Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, who would make for a slightly cheaper option at shortstop. The Dodgers and Yankees both have better odds to sign Seager.

The Astros are listed as 6-to-1 to sign Miami center fielder Starling Marte, which seems like long odds since there have been reports that they are aggressively pursuing the speedy outfielder.

The Astros are even longer shots for Dodgers ace Max Scherzer (8-to-1) and Rockies shortstop Trevor Story (10-to-1).

Continued here:

Where Carlos Correa might sign, according to the gambling odds - Chron

What updates have arisen as a result of CAP and BCAPs consultation responding to the findings of the GambleAware Final Synthesis Report?

The key takeaway

CAP and BCAP are working hard to ensure that the most vulnerable members of society are protected from the potential dangers of gambling.

The background

On 6 August 2021, CAP and BCAP published an interim statement that details the progress that has been made on their joint consultation (launched 22 October 2020) that responded to the findings of the GambleAware Final Synthesis Report. The consultation outlined proposals to strengthen rules and guidance around gambling adverts in an effort to further protect vulnerable consumers (under 18s and vulnerable adults). The consultation proposed the following changes/updates:

The development

The interim statement highlights that there was a significant amount of responses to the consultation, particularly in relation to the introduction of a strong appeal rule. Specifically, the responses c

advertising to under 18s would actually work in practice. CAP and BCAP are still in the process of considering these responses and have committed to responding fully by the end of 2021.

However, in the interim statement, CAP and BCAP indicated that they are going to move forward with the implementation of revisions to guidance as well as the proposed technical update to the codes based on the responses and outcomes of the consultation. These are:

Why is this important?

These developments highlights CAPs ongoing commitment to social responsibility within the gambling arena.

Any practical tips?

The updates mean that advertisers will need to adjust their methodology when it comes to gambling ads so that they are not caught out by any changes to the advertising codes. Big gaming brands in particular will need to keep a close eye on future developments, such as the potential for restrictions on ads with strong appeal to under 18s. The latter could have significant and far reaching consequences for gaming operators and their sponsors.

Explore all the key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer across data, digital, consumer and advertising in the full edition of Snapshots for Autumn 2021.

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CAP and BCAP announce progress with gambling ad consultation - Lexology

You recently featured a case of a reader whom TSB had refused to refund after 1,000 was taken from his account by fraudsters using gambling sites.

I find myself in an even worse position. TSB has refused to refund me for 70 transactions totalling 4,150, all made over 10 days to a betting company.

I most certainly did not make these payments, and feel very let down. TSB did not flag the unusual spending patterns to me.

I have had the same bank account since 1997 and have never made any payments to a gambling company, let alone 70 transactions over such a short space of time.

As with your previous victim of fraud, initially payments of 30 were taken. However, they then grew in size, including three of 300 and four of 250 in one day.

TSB has similarly refused to refund me because of its zero policy on gambling and fraud. During the call, there was even an insinuation from TSB staff that, because I hadnt spotted it earlier, it was my fault.

Does the bank expect me to monitor my account 24 hours a day?

JM, London

TSB can have a zero policy of repaying fraud on gambling sites all it likes but the rules are straightforward: it must refund fraudulent payments that were not authorised by the account holder, whether to a gambling site or anywhere else.

The Financial Conduct Authority says if you have reported an unauthorised payment a bank must refund the payment without unnecessary delay, unless it has reasonable grounds to suspect that you acted fraudulently.

I asked TSB to take a second look at this. It told me that cases such as this can be complex and often require staff to speak to the betting company to find out more about what has occurred. However, it has now agreed to refund you in full.

Weve apologised to the customer for the experience she has had, it says. Shes been fully refunded and has been offered compensation for the inconvenience caused.

In the meantime, it is worth noting that many banks offer customers the chance to block payments to gambling sites, although this doesnt currently include TSB, the bank with the zero policy.

This is designed to help problem gamblers, but there is nothing to stop anyone else doing it. Fraudsters are clearly targeting these sites as a way to launder cash stolen from account holders.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include a phone number. Letters are subject to our terms: gu.com/letters-terms

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TSB is ignoring the fraudsters gambling with 4,150 of my money - The Guardian

10 Things The Bible Says About Gambling

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As you might expect, the Bible is far from silent on the subject of gambling. While many of the quotes within the Bible dont directly pertain to the act of gambling itself, they do address emotions and situations that may arise as a result of engaging with gambling. The Bible is always open to a certain degree of interpretation, of course.

If you want the quick version of whether the Bible approves of gambling or not whether you can visit Novibet here to play some casino games the answer is, unfortunately, more complex than that. There are many verses and words within the Bible pertaining to money or greed, and theoretically, if you avoid greed and avarice, the Bible does not expressly forbid gambling. However, it does caution against many of gamblings excesses. Here are 10 things the Bible says about gambling.

Here, we have an extremely famous Biblical quote: the love of money is the root of all evil. This quote refers to avarice and greed specifically; if you adore money and not God, or if you value monetary gains over helping people and being a good person, then you are doing evil. Again, this isnt a specific reference to gambling; we could infer that this means you can gamble for fun, but not for profit. Either way, this is a specific warning not to fall in love with money, which many gamblers do.

Once again, here we have a quote that specifically pertains to greed and why it is a negative force in the world. The greedy bring ruin to their households tells us that if you pursue greed and want to accumulate more and more wealth, you will eventually be the cause of ruin in your home. You could cause your family to go hungry, fail to pay your rent, or stop paying your bills on time due to greed and subsequent loss. Its important to ensure this doesnt happen if you gamble.

The Bible warns us against the deleterious effects of greed time and time again. Luke 12:15 is no exception. It tells us that life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. This means that we should not live our lives in order to accrue wealth or material things. Instead, we should live a life rich with emotional satisfaction. Gambling can cause us to covet material wealth and damage our relationship with spirituality, which the Bible warns us against.

Another verse from Luke tells us that it is impossible to worship God and also to worship material wealth as twin masters. You cannot serve both God and money is what this verse says, and it refers to the way in which if one becomes blinded by greed if, that is, one begins to worship money instead of God then one has lost ones way as a Christian. Gambling can sometimes cause us to lose sight of God and instead only care for where the next payout is coming from.

In Proverbs 16:33, we learn that the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. This means that although we may draw lots or straws to determine something or gamble to determine an outcome the eventual decision is in the hands of God. Of course, this will vary depending on your own spiritual beliefs, but the thrust of it is that gambling and chance are not, in fact, determined by luck, but by God making a decision.

Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. This is what Proverbs 13:11 tells us. Whether or not you consider gambling to be a dishonest way of acquiring money determines your outlook on this verse. If gambling is dishonest, then the money you obtain through gambling is destined to disappear. If, however, you consider gambling to be a fair way to get wealthy, then its arguably not a dishonest way of acquiring wealth.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 tells us that whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This could be seen as a warning against gambling to excess. If you fall in love with money, then you will never have enough, leading you to want to acquire more and more riches. However, if you settle for gambling as a pastime and a form of enjoyment, then the wealth you accrue will matter little to you.

This is a very stark warning. Exodus 20:17 tells us not to covet possessions held by others; our neighbours house, their partner, or any of the things they own. This is as much about being sociable and a good neighbour as it is about the sin of avarice, but it certainly bears thinking about when gambling. Dont covet excessive wealth, especially if it hasnt been obtained through hard work. Remember to do everything in moderation, as Exodus decrees.

In Matthew 6:21, the Apostle quotes Jesus Christ, saying for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Hes saying that wherever you place your treasure be that in Heaven or on earth thats also where your heart will be, so you should place your treasure in Heaven and in God. Its another warning not to grow overly fond of material goods or possessions, and to make sure youre living a spiritual life devoid of greed or avarice.

Again, Hebrews 13:5 refers more to the love of money than to gathering money itself, but for many, they go hand in hand. This verse states that we should keep our lives free from love of money, and be content with what you have. You could see this as an indictment against gambling, because it tells us not to want to gather wealth unnecessarily, and instead to simply be happy with the things we already have in our lives.

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10 Things The Bible Says About Gambling - SpokaneFVS - spokanefavs.com

Dominic Marius-Markham speaks with Paul Dixon, Managing Director UK at LeoVegas Group, about the companys new AI-powered, personalised deposit limits for UK-based players, as well as its broader efforts concerning safer gambling.

Can you give us a brief overview of what the new personalised deposit limits entail? How do they function from a players perspective?

We take sustainability seriously at LeoVegas, and do our very best to offer a safer gambling experience. The new personalised deposit limit is an important part of this, as its helping us to develop more sustainable relationships with our customers. Im especially proud of it because its seamless for us and the players. As soon as the player makes a deposit whether its their first, or one of many a process runs instantly in the background to set a fixed limit.

These personalised limits dont affect the playing experience, but any players that show signs of developing harmful gambling behaviour, or players whose financial indicators suggest they shouldnt play, or players who have already reached their limits, are immediately blocked from depositing funds. If a player feels that a limit should be adjusted, they can contact customer service and we carry out an enhanced manual affordability check.

What do you mean by third-party data and how is it obtained? Did you encounter any initial difficulties, perhaps related to GDPR, when acquiring/using this data?

As a mobile operator, data is naturally at the core of everything we do. We already use internal data, machine learning and AI extensively to support our drive to create sustainable customer relationships. By using third-party data, we are now adding another layer to our safer gambling efforts. We use data from a top credit reference agency in the UK to identify potential risk at an earlier stage of our relationships with customers.

As soon as a player tries to deposit funds, we send a request to the agency and receive the latest data held on that customer, which is then fed into our proprietary risk prediction model to be analysed. The data we receive is GDPR compliant, of course, and data security and privacy are naturally very important to us too. Weve been really happy with the rollout of this functionality.

If possible, could you give us a brief explanation of your risk prediction model? What behaviours are you looking for when defining whether or not a player is at risk?

Our risk prediction model takes numerous data points into account. As well as financial information, we look at non-financial factors such as demographics and historical player behaviour. The data points are also continuously updated and aligned to regulatory requirements. We see it as an enhanced safety net that makes the experience on LeoVegas brand websites safer.

We also use the model and data in other ways, such as to inform the on-site messages that educate and inform customers about our safer gambling tools. And the beauty of it is that, as we gather more player data, our AI and models get progressively more advanced through machine learning. Its also clear that players that engage in a more sustainable gambling behaviour are less likely to overspend. Ultimately, they can focus on just enjoying themselves - and thats exactly what we want!

What has the general reaction been like to these new personalised deposit limits? Have you seen a measurable reduction in problem gambling rates or similar indicators?

We are very happy with the response! As I was just saying, the personalised limits are yielding results as they are keeping our players gambling more sustainably, within their limits. Well continue to monitor and evaluate our safer gambling tools and adapt and develop them as we learn more about their effectiveness.

What prompted you to introduce personalised deposit limits and could you speak a bit more about LeoVegas other efforts in regard to safer gambling?

I said before that safer gambling is one of our top priorities, and these personalised deposit limits are one part of developing more sustainable relationships with customers. There is no easy one-stop-shop way of solving harmful gambling behaviour, which is why we have a range of tools that we apply and develop continuously. Our toolkit of innovations and fine-tuned technologies really play important roles.

AI, personalised limits and automatic risk prediction models enable us to refine customer interactions and tailor them to our customers specific circumstances and needs. This increases their effectiveness something thats really important and creates a better customer experience overall. We also have to keep in mind that safer gambling is not just about players behaviour but also how the industry operates and works together to improve holistically.

Do you believe that problem gambling and gambling-related harm is the most pressing issue facing the industry right now? Is there anything you would like to see more of in regard to safer gambling from an industry-wide perspective?

Gambling-related harmful behaviours are something we, as an industry, will always need to be mindful of, and take measures to address, and we have definitely made strides in the last few years and stepped up our efforts to deliver safer gambling.

Technical innovations will continue to be important. Id like to see more cross-operator collaborations, so we can share insights, best practices, and generally get better at aligning our tools for the greater good of safer gambling. I also think that we need increased independent and scholarly research on these topics, as well as fact-based discussions.

Finally, are there any exciting developments on the horizon from LeoVegas that we should be on the lookout for?

As a group, we are investing a lot in product development and technology so we can be really confident that were delivering the greatest gaming experience. Apart from the safer gambling-related tools that we launched earlier in the year; weve recently started rolling out better payment options for customers in the UK using open banking.

This means our customers can deposit faster and pay-outs can be made faster, while benefiting from increased security. We were the first in our sector to roll out open banking in the UK, and were looking forward to rolling it out in other markets too.

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LeoVegas Paul Dixon calls for more cross-operator collaborations as he discusses safer gambling - Gambling Insider - In-depth Analysis for the Gaming...

By Sameer Rao (November 24, 2021, 12:22 PM EST) -- Connecticut in March 2021 joined other states like New Jersey and New York inannouncinga new legal and regulatory framework for sports betting andonlinegambling, in tandem with the state's two federally recognized Indigenous tribes.

Rodney Butler, far left, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods Resort Casino, joins Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, second from left, as he celebrates making his first bets on two sports teams at Foxwoods in Mashantucket on Sept. 30. (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

Several legal stakeholders and observers keeping a close eyeon thenew betting market, which officially opened this fall after revisions to the tribes' gaming...

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Gambling Industry, Tribes Tally Effects Of Conn.'s New Law - Law360

It is not uncommon for employers to block the access of their employees to certain websites such as social media. After all, no employer would like to see their staff distracted by gossip and stories shared by others.

In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, online gambling activities have skyrocketed. And while some people prefer to enjoy the activity in their free time, others have attempted to do so while at work. According to a new report released by Metro, the Department of Health and Social Care blocked more than 2,000 attempts to access gambling websites last year.

Between June and December 2019, only 94 requests to access gambling websites were blocked. In contrast, that number skyrocketed to 2,081 in 2020. It is important to mention that those are the blocked attempts to access such websites and no details were revealed on whether or how many attempts have been successful.

The Department of Health revealed that the attempts to access gambling websites have been flagged by the reporting system, but no investigation is launched to determine each individual responsible. However, it explained that violations of the Acceptable Usage Policy for IT are reported to the relevant manager even if there is a case of an unsuccessful attempt.

Overall, the Department of Health has blocked 4,035 attempts to access various websites in 2020. Besides the 2,000 attempts to access gambling websites, there have been 406 attempts to access peer-to-peer sharing websites. Additionally, some 724 attempts have been made to access tools that grant anonymity while browsing online.

Additionally, the Department of Health and Social Cares systems have blocked some 239 attempts to websites with spyware or other malicious software. Another 186 attempts last year were related to tasteless content, while 135 were identified as pornography. The government agencys filtering system has also blocked 126 attempts to access websites with illegal and/or questionable content. Last but not least, 7 attempts were related to illegal paraphernalia, while 15 were regarding weapons.

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UK: Department of Health Blocks 2,000 Attempts to Access Gambling Websites - GamblingNews.com

The pandemic has seen a vast increase in the numbers of Welsh players both gambling and gaming online. With mobile phones offering a multitude of games at the touch of a button, there is no shortage of entertainment.

However, while this is good for games developers, its not necessarily good for the user and many are becoming concerned that the differences between gambling, which is heavily regulated in the UK, and gaming, which is much more accessible, can be a very fine line.

Lets be honest, if you type in top online casinos UK into Google then there is every likelihood that you are both expecting and wanting to gamble when arriving on a casino site. While there are issues with problem gambling, there are also schemes in place to protect users and users are likely to recognise if a partner points out an issue, and most gamblers will be aware of potential addiction risks.

However, many new gaming apps, loaded with micro-transactions, offer similar addiction risks and rewards for the brain and the boundaries between gambling and gaming are becoming more blurred.

Risking money on games of skill is not new, for example, on pub quiz machines, players essentially bet on their skills to win and many of them find themselves more out of pocket that they would if they had openly gambled.

This is not really down to luck after all, the machines run on algorithms that can make questions easier or harder to ensure that wins are timed to make the owner more money.

Like any other type of gambling, this can be addictive and indeed, offline it can be quite social. In most pubs in Wales, you will find a group of people standing around the quiz machine feeding it coins you will notice when playing, it takes a few attempts to win and at best you often only win your 1 back!

The difference between playing these semi-skilled games (so called because success does require some skill but ultimately success still depends on the algorithm) in a social setting and playing a skill or luck game at home is very different but either way, the costs can add up.

Playing a game is not seen as gambling and can be very seductive, particularly if a player is very confident in their ability but micro transactions can add up fast, and electronic transactions can mean a player loses track of their actual spend.

More concerning is that many of these games have features that resemble gambling and can be accessed by children (and in some cases are even designed to target children, with popular childrens brands licensing images for use in games).

The costs are not always micro and inconsequential. For example, on Disney Magic Kingdom, micro transactions can be as high as 10 just to buy a random character pack in the hope you may win a particular character. Is this really so very different to gambling?

Gaming online shares many of the other features which makes gambling so addictive.

When using a mobile phone or tablet to game, a person can become engrossed and lose track of time, thriving on limited success and the need to then beat a level by paying for an advantage such as more balls, unlimited lives and so on, and every time you lose, the app helpfully reminds you that there are cheats available to make winning easier. Its the same I will win this time mentality we see in any other area of gambling.

The apps offer other temptations too, with upgrades to make the character look more cool or to upgrade their character, or other aspects of the game to add visual appeal.

The problem with all this temptation is the fact that the rewards of winning stimulate the brain in the same way as gambling and can therefore be just as addictive.

If you notice, or your partner notices your screen time or spend is on the high side, remind yourself what a game or character really is pixels on a screen, dreamed up in someones coding room and the only real winner is the person or organisation counting the cash from your microtransactions. Set a budget and stick to it and ask yourself if you are getting value for your spend.

Lastly, if you believe you have an addiction, and need to stop, then reach for help. Its available.

Excerpt from:

Gaming and Gambling Online are the lines becoming too blurred? - News from Wales