Developing slots with player safety in mind

Light & Wonder’s VP Game Development Rob Procter explains how the slot development process is influenced by progress in safer gambling policy and best practice. European Safer Gambling Week is focusing on player safety. Light &Wonder believes player protection should be hard-wired into their content strategy. They are cognisant of the new features and mechanics they are putting into games.

In recent years, the landscape has changed in terms of the need to protect players. Buying directly into a bonus feature was prohibited in the UK a few years ago. Game suppliers are focusing on providing compelling experiences within slots to all levels of players across all regulated markets. They don't want players to feel that a certain level of investment in a slot is a necessity.

Land-based gaming has different restrictions than online gaming. Light & Wonder's creative team has the same perception of safer gambling as they do in iGaming. They take mutually beneficial learnings as business units and combine them with the online ones.

Operators have to uphold their social responsibility commitments and remain as compliant as possible to the regulators. Suppliers have their own part to play in providing operators with content that has player safety already built-in. In most mature markets, regulation appears to have one direction of travel, towards greater restrictions.