GameCare CEO Anna Hemmings has stressed the rising importance for gambling operators to understand the kinds of behaviours that can indicate a player is developing a gambling problem.

Speaking to CasinoBeats at last month’s Betting on Football conference in London, Hemmings said: “What precipitates peoples gambling escalating is something that we don’t always know.

“It might be difficult for operators to know, so know-your-customer interactions are key. Something operators can do in all settings is spot changes in patterns of play – that might be a marker that something might be going on in someone’s life.”

The GamCare chief executive also stressed the difficulty online operators face in detecting changes that relate to a customer’s state of mind or general well being, which can be harder to spot in than in offline cases. She made particular reference to the charity’s new cognitive behavioural therapy initiative, which was announced in February.

Watch the full interview above.