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Increase in Number of People Accessing the National Gambling Support Network
GambleAware, the leading charity and strategic commissioner of gambling harms prevention and treatment services in Great Britain, has published the latest annual report for the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN), which shows an increase in the number of people treated for gambling harm through the network.
The new report shows that almost 11,000 people received support or treatment from the NGSN between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. Of those, almost 7500 received structured treatment such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), one-to-one support or residential care. This was a 12% increase in the number of people with gambling harm who received treatment from the previous year. This year, for the first time, the report also outlines the number of people who received early intervention for gambling harm, with 3291 people receiving early intervention and support to talk about their gambling, and 3048 people who received early intervention and then went on to receive treatment.
The NGSN is commissioned by GambleAware and provides free, confidential treatment and support services for gambling harm, working with the NHS and other third sector organisations. It offers a range of integrated, holistic treatment and interventions which are tailored to an individual’s specific needs. The network operates across in England, Scotland and Wales, and is available for anyone who is experiencing harm from gambling, including those affected by someone else’s gambling. The NGSN offers three tiers of treatment and support:
Tier 2 – initial early intervention and support for people worried about their gambling, which may involve speaking to a trained professional from one of the NGSN’s regional or national services who will give initial support and if treatment is required talk people through their options.
Tier 3 – which could include forms of treatment such as one-to-one support, group treatment or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Tier 4 – the most specialised and intensive level of care within the NGSN, where a person stays at a residential treatment centre.
The report also shows the speed with which people received support from the NGSN, with 50% of people looking for treatment having their first appointment within six days of making contact with the NGSN and 75% within twelve days.
Outcomes from treatment were also overwhelmingly positive, with 95% of those who completed their treatment seeing an improvement. Among those who completed treatment, the rate of “problem gambling” fell from 87% to 10% between initial assessment and completion of treatment.
The figures in the report also show the severe harms that gambling can have on all parts of people’s lives. Among people receiving treatment for their gambling, two thirds (66%) reported being in debt due to gambling, 24% had experienced a relationship loss and 11% had experienced a job loss because of their gambling.
As well as the increase in the number of people treated, the report also showed a trend where the proportion of clients seeking help from the NGSN due to another person’s gambling (known as affected others) has increased over time. The rate of affected others seeking support was higher for the year at 15% than the past five-year average of 13%.
Anna Hargrave, GambleAware Chief Commissioning and Strategy Officer, said: “In 2023, we launched new commissioning arrangements that expanded the NGSN’s scope to include prevention and early intervention, in addition to treatment. This means that our services are now working much more closely with local communities, reducing stigma and removing the barriers to accessing treatment.
“Not only have we reached more people, we have been able to identify and support people at a much earlier stage and that is part of the reason why we have seen an increase in people receiving treatment and support. Our new commissioning arrangements also included the addition of the Primary Care Gambling Service who work closely with our third sector providers enabling us to support more people across the NGSN.
“We look forward to the introduction of the statutory levy on gambling operators and the future gambling harms commissioning system, and we will continue to work in partnership with all those in the sector including the NHS.”
Professor Dame Clare Gerada, Director of the National Primary Care Gambling Service, said: “We work closely with third-sector organisations and charities to care for patients and their affected others experiencing gambling-related harms. Working as part of the National Gambling Support Network (NGSN), we share our clinical expertise and skills in gambling-related harm to those network members and learn from each other. This allows us to enhance the care all of us can provide to patients and ensures those experiencing gambling harm receive the most appropriate care and support when needed.”
The post Increase in Number of People Accessing the National Gambling Support Network appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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Introducing Rhythm of Resistance: A Fresh Rhythm Metroidvania Where Your Playlist Is Your Weapon
Drenched in Darkwave: Innovative 2.5D Rhythm Based Metroidvania – Fueled by Forbidden Music and Gothic Soundscapes.
NetherMoon Game Studio, a small independent development studio based in Karlstad, Sweden, unveiled today Rhythm of Resistance, a shadow-draped adventure that fuses the somber tones of gothic and darkwave music with atmospheric Metroidvania exploration, creating an unforgettable game experience unlike anything you’ve seen, or heard, before.
Proudly tipped to be the world’s very first Rhythm Metroidvania, Rhythm of Resistance places explorers in the role of Aria, a hero fighting for survival in a dystopian future where music is forbidden, joy outlawed, and the skies hang heavy with cloying silence. The world is ruled by shadow and steel, until Aria discovers a relic of the old world – a cracked cassette player pulsing with forbidden power. This ancient music player unlocks a host of mysterious abilities, and allows her to navigate through labyrinthine dungeons, spectral foes, and traps as cruel as they are cursed. Each corridor hums with a forgotten melody, each enemy a sentinel of silence.
In Rhythm of Resistance, music is your key to success. As your adventure progresses, Aria discovers dusty cassettes hidden in the ruined world and expands her music library, unlocking more than 20 unique tracks, each holding the key to progression and altering the gameplay, unlocking different stats and abilities. Choose your playlist with care, in Rhythm of Resistance, your chosen beats can be your saviour or your downfall, with each track dynamically changing your surroundings, working at a different tempo to increase or devastate your chances of survival. Players will enjoy full freedom to choose the haunting songs, and will watch as the entire world around them reacts to their choices.
Expected to release in 2026 on Steam, Rhythm of Resistance offers a host of unique gameplay features, the first and only Metroidvania adventure where your playlist is your weapon! With music controlling your destiny, playlists can not only alter your surroundings, but alter enemy behaviour, reveal hidden paths, and solve the most fiendish of musical puzzles.
Music is a key factor in the title, with two early band announcements being Swedish goth sensation ABU NEIN, who took the darkwave world by storm with the release of their debut album “Secular Psalms” in 2020, and Underground Fire, a Swedish gothic rock band formed in 2015 by the aptly named Rob Coffinshaker in 2015. More musicians will be announced as the game’s development progresses, but you can be sure that they will delight any fans of the genre.
Joel Fjällsby, Founder & Creative Director at Nethermoon Game Studio commented, “I wanted the music to be real songs with lyrics and everything. Like an old track you could actually find on a forgotten cassette tape. With this in mind, I reached out to bands that felt like a great fit—and everyone so far has fallen in love with the project.”
Get your groove on and feel the beat to attack, parry, dodge, and unleash powerful abilities, all in perfect sync to your soundtrack. Be on the lookout for spare parts to upgrade your music player and unlock new powers as you traverse a vast, haunted landscape of crumbling cathedrals, rust-choked catacombs, and decaying factories echoing with the whispers of lost, solemn songs as players guide Aria to uncover clues of a long-forgotten past.
Rhythm of Resistance Feature Highlights:
- World’s first rhythm based Metroidvania where every beat defies the void, and your playlist is your weapon!
- Wield the force of music to unlock exciting features and abilities.
- Discover 20+ forbidden cassette tapes,each one distorting reality in strange and surprising ways while dynamically changing your game experience
- Choose your tracks wisely to alter enemy behaviour, reveal hidden paths, and solve musical puzzles.
- Stay on the beat to stay alive! Attack, parry, dodge, and unleash powerful abilities in sync with the dark pulse of your chosen song.
- Traverse a vast interlinked world of cathedrals, catacombs and factories to uncover clues of a long-forgotten past.
- Collect spare parts to upgrade your music player and unlock new abilities.
- Featuring a haunting gothic darkwave soundtrack from a range of underground artists.
Joel Fjällsby, Founder & Creative Director at NetherMoon Game Studio commented, “I’ve always been drawn to dark music, dystopian worlds, and of course Metroidvanias—so this project is the perfect fusion of everything I love. Honestly, I’m surprised no one’s made a game like this before. It’s a massive undertaking, especially for a new studio, but I love every hour of it. Seeing this dark, mysterious world come alive is incredibly rewarding.”
Rhythm of Resistance – Every beat, a rebellion. Every song, a revolution.
To find out more about Rhythm of Resistance and to Wishlist, please visit the Steam page here: store.steampowered.com/app/3269550/Rhythm_of_Resistance/
Find out more about the team on the Nethermoon website: nethermoon.com
Stay up to date with all the latest news by following NetherMoon Game Studio on social media: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, LinkedIn
The post Introducing Rhythm of Resistance: A Fresh Rhythm Metroidvania Where Your Playlist Is Your Weapon appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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Aristocrat Interactive Delivers New Player-Centric Experience to Cliff Castle Casino Hotel Through Mobile and Cashless Systems
Cliff Castle Casino Hotel Expands Long-Standing Relationship with Aristocrat Interactive Through New Products & Solutions
Aristocrat Interactive™ announced today the roll out of new player-centric solutions to Cliff Castle Casino Hotel, located in Camp Verde, Arizona, as part of a recent deal under its Gaming Systems division.
Already an Oasis™ customer for over 20 years, as part of the deal signed in December, Cliff Castle Casino Hotel will be adding Aristocrat Interactive’s player mobile app, PlayerMax™, as well as its Mobile nCompass™ cardless solution, ONE LINK progressive management solution and Oasis Loyalty™ suite of products, all rolling out over the course of the summer.
“Cliff Castle Casino Hotel has been a valued customer of Oasis™, our comprehensive casino management system, for over two decades now,” said Kristen Jones, VP of Sales of Aristocrat Interactive Gaming Systems. “We take great pride in being a trusted provider of products that support casino operations, while also keeping the player experience top of mind.”
These additional products will enable Cliff Castle Casino Hotel to push real-time progressive data to marquee video displays and electronic gaming machines (EGM) on the floor through ONE LINK. Separately, the Oasis Loyalty™ suite of products, will allow for advanced campaign management and enterprise-wide tier management – ultimately, leading to operation efficiencies and strengthened player retention.
Through PlayerMax™, Cliff Castle Casino Hotel patrons will benefit from access to a blend of immersive options, engaging features like live progressive jackpots, exciting rewards and personalized offers to stay informed through timely, location-based communications.
Players will also be able to “card-in” via their mobile device, enabling them to play an EGM without having to insert a physical players’ card.
“Aristocrat Interactive has been instrumental in our ability to provide our players with a personalized and entertaining casino experience,” said Paul Hamm, Director of Gaming for Cliff Castle Casino Hotel. “We’re confident that the addition of these products will continue to elevate the player experience and show the value we bring to players, reinforcing Cliff Castle Casino Hotel as a premier gaming destination.”
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Zimpler, a leading Swedish company in Pay-by-bank solutions, today announced the launch of Zimpler ID+, a new identity layer designed to simplify compliance and accelerate user conversion within digital payment environments. By embedding biometric identification and regulatory checks directly into the first user interaction, Zimpler ID+ reduces friction in sectors with complex onboarding requirements.
“Zimpler ID+ gives our partners a direct path to compliance and conversion – cutting onboarding time, reducing drop-offs, and removing the need to build identity infrastructure in-house,” said Tobias Gunnesson, Chief Product Officer at Zimpler.
“While most verification flows still rely solely on deposit-based triggers or cookie tracking, we’re the first to enable verification at the point of entry – meeting compliance head-on and delivering a better user experience from the start.”
Purpose-built for highly regulated digital environments
Zimpler ID+ serves industries where compliance is critical and abandonment rates are costly, such as iGaming and financial services. It ensures users are verified from the start, without requiring deposits or post-registration identity checks.
Key features include:
- Quick onboarding: Verification and collection of KYC data takes place at the first point of contact, not only at the point of payment
- Seamless return user experience: Returning users can identify with biometric technology and are recognized with the help of cookies
- Works even without cookies: If cookies are unavailable, the user can easily identify themselves using a passkey
- Built-in compliance: Regulatory assurance at every step of the customer journey
By functioning as a unified identity layer from sign-up through repeat visits, Zimpler ID+ helps businesses minimize onboarding churn and maximize regulatory confidence.
Solving identification friction at scale
The launch of Zimpler ID+ comes as businesses across Europe face rising pressure to improve digital onboarding while maintaining regulatory standards. National ID systems remain foundational – but they weren’t built to optimize every business touchpoint.
Zimpler ID+ complements these systems by offering operators a plug-in layer of biometric identification and gathering of KYC information tailored to business needs. It removes the need for deposit triggers, repeated logins, or re-verification after a device change.
“With Zimpler ID+, we’re introducing a flexible approach that gives businesses more control over identity flows – without compromising security or relying solely on external systems” said Gunnesson.
Product availability
Zimpler ID+ is now available as a value-added service to select partners in Finland, with more markets to be added in the future.
By embedding advanced onboarding capabilities directly into its existing infrastructure, Zimpler expects ID+ to strengthen customer retention and enhance platform value across regulated sectors for years to come.
The post Zimpler introduces ID+: A next-gen identification layer for digital payments appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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