1xCare's Sissel and Quirino on Player Protection, Independent Research & Building Trust

Abigail Welch: Hello, Abigail Welch here, Editor of iGaming News, coming to you live from SBC Lisbon 2026. I am thrilled today to be joined by Sissel and Quirino from 1xCare. Thanks for taking the time.

To begin with, could you briefly explain what 1xCare is and what it hopes to achieve for player protection?

Sissel Weitzhändler: 1xCare is a new initiative in the responsible gaming sphere. We are set up around four different pillars: TechShield, which is innovation and technology; research; education; and support and wellbeing.

Abigail: What has been the response since you launched 1xCare, and which conversations with potential partners have been the most encouraging for you?

Sissel: It’s been quite overwhelming since we launched earlier this year, at the beginning of the summer. More than 30 different proposals have been sent to us, and we are currently developing the framework around it.

There are a lot of very encouraging projects coming in, but it’s a bit too premature to highlight any specific ones.

Personally, what I would like to see is more on affiliates and their role in responsible gaming, advertising, and how advertising affects vulnerable players. Also, support — not necessarily just for vulnerable players themselves, but for their support networks.

I look forward to seeing those proposals, but overall, we’ve received a lot of them.

Abigail: Quirino, you oversee regulatory and compliance matters across 1xCare’s four pillars. How does your role help turn an idea into a programme that can really work in practice?

Quirino Mancini: I think my role has to do with the fact that I have been active in the industry as a gaming law specialist for — I don’t even remember how many years — but certainly more than 20.

My focus has always been helping clients navigate the sometimes quite choppy waters of regulated markets, Italy for one.

Because of the experience I have accumulated over the years, I was approached in connection with the 1xCare initiative, not so much as a gaming specialist lawyer, but as someone who has quite a good knowledge of what it means to play by the book and operate in markets and jurisdictions governed by multiple laws and regulations.

That kind of input fits well in an initiative with the ultimate goal of doing something good, within the rules, for the cause of responsible gambling. So here I am.

Abigail: Fantastic. What do you think is the best way for 1xCare to validate its work and gain credibility in the eyes of the international gambling community?

Quirino: It’s no secret that 1x is a global operator, but also quite a controversial one. There is some extra mileage to be covered to validate the whole thing.

But I believe this is absolutely deliverable, because the simple fact that they reached out to people with our profiles shows the genuineness of the initiative and the intention of a global operator like 1xBet to converge in the right direction, which is towards regulated markets.

Well before launching this initiative, they had already accumulated a number of licences, not just in Africa or Latin America, but in Europe as well.

There is a clear indication of their trajectory, and hopefully 1xCare will not just corroborate that trajectory, but also help speed things up.

Abigail: Sissel, in our previous interview, you spoke about funding work that produces useful evidence. What does that look like for you?

Sissel: We need to make sure that it’s all evidence-based. We cannot just produce results that are not founded on solid data and solid evidence.

The outcomes of whatever we support also need to be made public. It needs to be transparent and governed by a set of very clear, transparent rules.

This is what we are currently developing as well, to ensure there is full clarity and that what we help support through these initiatives will be useful for the entire industry, but also for the wider public.

Especially in the research area, where we believe there is a lack of research — there’s a lot of research out there, don’t get me wrong — we would love to be part of initiatives that are evidence-based.

I don’t know, Quirino, if you want to say more on that?

Quirino: I think you’ve summarised pretty much the scope and the goal that we have.

As Sissel was saying, our ambition is to provide the industry and its stakeholders — meaning everybody, all the critical components of the gambling industry, regulators, users, consumers and, in an ideal world, policymakers as well, although that is perhaps a little too ambitious at this time — with something that can be used as an open source for the benefit of the industry.

For regulators, we are willing and prepared to provide raw materials coming from research, from scoped research, that they can then use to deliver more sustainable rules.

Abigail: When 1xCare considers work across different regulated markets, what should be the silver lining binding all the projects and initiatives launched in the various jurisdictions?

Quirino: There are some macro areas that are common to all regulated markets, regardless of how they are regulated.

These have to do with responsible gambling and other issues, like AML and illegal gambling.

1xCare focuses on responsible gambling, and there is an issue of dealing effectively with problem gambling in every regulated market. Regulators are increasingly zooming in and targeting this phenomenon with their regulations.

For instance, in Italy, the regulator mandated operators to introduce AI-driven tools to improve consumer protection.

We don’t have the ambition to cover all these macro areas. We chose responsible gambling, and we think we can produce research outputs that can be used across the board, in every jurisdiction where there is a problem gambling issue.

Abigail: Lastly, this is a question to the two of you. Looking ahead to 2027, what does success for 1xCare look like?

Sissel: By the end of 2026, we would like to have established the whole framework and announced it very clearly, so there is full visibility into the processes, and started to give out some of the funding we have.

For 2027, there is a clear focus on striking key partnerships in different areas, including sports, where we have our colleague Chris on the advisory board as well.

Having established these key partnerships and really started to shape the agenda for responsible gaming.

Quirino: There is not much to add, other than we hope that when we resume this interview in one year’s time, we will be able to refer to specific deliverables that we have already delivered.

Also, perhaps some of the stigma that accompanies this initiative will no longer be there, because by then we will hopefully have shown the community, in the broadest sense, that this is serious.

This is not just some kind of formal proposition. It’s solid, and we’re here to make sure we deliver.

Sissel: Most importantly, not just solid, but I would also say independent, which is the key word.

Abigail: Fantastic. We look forward to doing that interview with you next year, when we’ve got a lot more to tell.

Thanks for your time today, both. We really appreciated it and learning more about 1xCare.

Guest: Thank you for the opportunity.