Jo Abergel: “People are going to gamble. We just need to make sure they do it safely.”

Casino Guru and Casino Guru Academy were able to catch up with Jo Abergel during the recently concluded ICE Barcelona 2026. Abergel is a prominent responsible gambling advocate and Co-Founder of the Ethical Gambling Forum & Count Me In.

She is also a member of the esteemed judges' panel for the upcoming Casino Guru Awards and a contributor to the Casino Guru Academy. Abergel has worked with the iGaming industry for 15 years, during which she has shifted her focus from leadership training to helping bring together stakeholders and move the responsible gambling conversation forward.

Q: Could we start by telling us something about yourself?

Hello, I am Jo Abergel. I am based in Gibraltar, where I have been for about 25 years now. I have been working with the iGaming industry for about 15 years, primarily as a leadership trainer, but lately as a co-founder of the Ethical Gambling Forum.

We try to bring industry stakeholders together to move the responsible gambling conversation forward across many areas and see how everyone is getting on with that journey. As part of the forum, we look for proper collaboration with all industry stakeholders.

Q: We have recently released a new course on Suicide Prevention. How do you think this contributes to the ethics of gambling?

First of all, congratulations. It’s a really, really important topic in the gambling industry. I have worked with the gambling industry for many years, and I have seen some of the impact that these courses have on members of the safe gambling team, let alone on the players and their families. I have seen this first-hand, and I think those teams are very passionate about it.

So, any support and help industry insiders can get is really important, because many operators don’t have specifically trained people in this area, and they can be talking to very, very vulnerable clients at crisis times in their lives, and they need to be equipped with the skills to respond. Now, the topic is not entirely "taboo," but there is stigma associated with it, and I think it’s perhaps an issue that the industry would like to not openly talk about, but they cannot do that - regulations don’t allow them to do that, nor does human nature.

Q: What is the biggest thing we still get wrong about prevention?

It is "the human thing." It’s the fact that we are dealing with human beings who may be displaying markers of harm. We need to be able to approach them in the right way, to identify these behaviors that are not going to help us on our prevention journey at all. It’s also about having a moral compass - we need to get in there quickly when people start demonstrating problem gambling behaviors and stop them from turning into a crisis.

Q: What can make a big change early?

I think it’s really about giving the people interacting in the industry the skills and confidence. It shouldn’t be about box-ticking or exclusion tools. If you block someone’s account, you may resolve your problem as an operator, but this won’t change the issue for the player. It’s really about boosting skills in communication, active listening, and empathy.

Q: What does ethical gambling look like in a real Monday-Friday ethical operation?

I don’t think there is a simple answer to that, because I think it’s different for every operator. I think what we are trying to do at the Ethical Gambling Forum is move people along on their ethical gambling journey.

So, if they are in a safer gambling team, they may take additional suicide-prevention training, or if they are in an AML and compliance team, maybe understand more about money-laundering or terrorist financing, and see what they can do to prevent that from happening in their companies. So, for big operators, obviously, the expectations would be higher, but for small operators, it’s a bit different - how can you continuously improve on your journey to make this industry more ethical? People are going to gamble; we just need to make sure they do it safely.

Q: You are involved with the Ethical Gambling Forum? What kinds of conversations are you trying to create that aren’t happening in the industry?

So it’s not so much about the conversations we are trying to create - it’s about the collaboration and networking we are trying to create. We are the only forum in the industry that is still small and exclusive enough, and very well represented by all industry stakeholders - researchers, therapists, regulators, affiliates - everyone. It’s all about putting these people together so that they can better understand each other. It’s how it works -having someone on the ground level and having a conversation.

My colleagues and I have the skills to facilitate these conversations. We know that everyone who comes to our forum has their own expectations. We do a lot of roundtable discussions, and we host these tables to make sure that everyone has a chance to contribute, share their challenges and issues, and discuss how they overcome them.

I think if we all do this in this space, the gambling industry will become a better industry.

Q: Can you share an example of an ethical gambling decision that makes business sense?

Yes. I think when you upscale safer gambling teams with a deeper training in suicide prevention, it’s good for business. No operator wants suicide on their hands, so we need to make sure that we are protecting our customers and improving our teams so that we have the skills to address the issue and get to a point where hopefully we would not have such tragic stories anymore.

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