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UAE Lottery: Monitoring player behaviour, counselling to boost responsible gaming practices
With the gaming market being so new in the UAE, there is an opportunity to put measures in place, UAE Lottery spokesperson said
- PUBLISHED: Mon 28 Apr 2025, 5:30 AM
UAE Lottery operators take great care to monitor player behaviour and ensure responsible gaming practices, according to a spokesperson. Mental health counselling is also provided to those who need it.
“We monitor player behaviour and our conversations with customers,” James Boyles, Group Director for Responsible Gaming at Momentum — the parent company that runs UAE Lottery — told Khaleej Times.
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“We have got sets of keywords where if a customer says certain things, it might not immediately raise concerns, but it is then passed to the relevant subject matter experts to review the player's accounts. They then work out if we need to make contact with that customer to ask them questions, whether we need to intervene in that play, or whether they just need some more information on playing responsibly, what controls they can use and what support they can access.”
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He added that there are some players that the company monitors. “We intervene when necessary but when such issues occur, we look backwards at it, and we use lessons learned to decide our next steps and how we improve our approach. So we make sure that we're constantly evolving.”
Valuable partnership
Operated by The Game LLC, the UAE Lottery has championed responsible gaming practices since its launch in 2024. In December, the company partnered with Takalam, an AI-powered mental health platform, to give players support when they need it. James added that this partnership has been extremely valuable.
“When needed, we can have our players engage with counsellors who specialise in this, because that's where they need to go,” he said. “Takalam have its own resources that talk to consumers about the risks and provide them with information in general about gaming.”
He added that the Takalam app is something that The Game LLC offers to their internal staff as well to support them when “they have to speak to people”. According to him, this partnership is something the group is trying to push very publicly on their website, so that people will engage with the mental health support provider when required.
New gaming market
According to James, who has been in the gaming industry in several parts of the world, the number of people involved in irresponsible gaming is very “small” in most places. In the UAE, he feels that with the gaming market being so new, there is an opportunity to put measures in place.
“If you look at the worldwide data, the proportion of players who have at-risk behaviour is a very small minority,” he said. “[The UAE] is a new market. It's a new product, and a new group of people are learning to play and engage. Being such a young but innovative company, we have got this kind of freedom to implement these technology-driven intervention plans, strategies and approaches to really try and grasp it before it becomes a problem.”
He added that the data the company collects over this initial period will help design “further strategies” and that there is a top-down focus on responsible gaming. “When it comes to awareness sessions and trainings, we strive to learn, improve,” he said. “We want to help players play responsibly. We want them to play within their means. We're not looking to take advantage. We embed this message throughout the company.”
