Meet our Responsible Gambling expert Jakob Jonsson

 

Hi Jakob! Who are you and what do you do here at Sustainable Interaction?

I am a psychologist and researcher specialising in preventing gambling problems. I began my career in the early ‘90s and had the opportunity to join the team that conducted the first Swedish prevalence study. The project was led by professor Sten Rönnberg and included, among others, Rachel Volberg, Max Abbott and Ingrid Munck.

Since then, I have worked clinically with treatment for individuals (and their close ones) suffering from gambling disorders, developed treatment manuals, collaborated with the industry to create preventive measures, and participated in Swelogs, a longitudinal research project.

At Sustainable Interaction, my roles include developing and maintaining responsible gambling measures, ensuring scientific knowledge is implemented in our work, leading our team of Duty of Care communicators, and overseeing the operation of Sustainable Care.

Can you share something that you’re working on right now?

Collaborating with my research colleagues Philip Lindner (Karolinska Institutet )and Per Carlbring (Stockholm University), I recently published a paper on autoplay. Currently, I am working on a couple of papers on GamTest and preparing an evaluation of Duty of Care calls at Norsk Tipping. These calls have been part of Norsk Tipping’s regular activities for quite a while now, and we obtained very positive results in an RCT conducted a few years ago. I am also looking forward to some upcoming online training sessions in RG and Duty of Care.

If you could offer three tips for elevating your Responsible Gambling efforts, what would they be?

  • Make sure it receives top priority from owners and management.

  • Be systematic, evaluate and use experimental designs.

  • Involve as many parts of the company as possible and reach out to external partners.

Looking ahead, what trends do you spot at the Responsible Gambling horizon?

I anticipate strengthened regulations on Duty of Care in many jurisdictions. This will emphasise and clarify the central role companies play in taking care of their customers. This is and will continue to be a catalyst for the companies to be more proactive in preventing harm to their customers. Additionally, there is a growing trend in discussing harm minimization rather than responsible gambling.

Jakob Jonsson, PhD and clinical psychologist at Sustainable Interaction

Linnea Cederlund