UK gambling harm charity GamCare has called for greater cooperation between regulators and industries as gambling-like features become increasingly common in video games, online shopping and financial trading platforms.
The warning follows the launch of GamCare’s first Signals Insight report, which examined 2,536 anonymised webchat transcripts collected over 20 days through the National Gambling Helpline.
The analysis identified three recurring themes: early exposure to gambling through family and friends, progression from lower-intensity activities to riskier forms of play, and the growing presence of gambling-style mechanics in products outside the regulated gambling sector.
The inaugural report focuses on the third theme, examining how digital products can encourage repeated spending and risk-taking even when they are not legally classified as gambling.
GamCare identified points, badges, leaderboards, challenges and reward systems as common engagement tools across digital platforms. While these features can improve user experiences, the charity warned that certain gambling-like mechanics may encourage harmful behaviour that consumers struggle to recognise.
One example involves video game loot boxes, which allow players to spend real money on randomly selected virtual items. GamCare highlighted a case in which an individual spent £2,500 purchasing player packs to strengthen a competitive gaming team before recognising the total financial cost.
The charity also identified potential risks in online retail, where flash sales, countdown timers, mystery purchases and live auctions can encourage rushed decisions and repeated spending. Although these activities differ from conventional gambling, they can involve similar patterns of uncertainty, excitement and difficulty stopping.
GamCare stressed that its findings do not establish how widespread these behaviours are across the general population. Instead, the analysis highlights emerging risks reported by people seeking gambling-related support.
The charity warned that existing consumer protection measures may fail to address these problems when they occur outside licensed gambling. Individuals and professionals may overlook harmful spending patterns, gambling-specific blocking tools may not restrict access to other digital products, and information about consumer harm may become fragmented across different industries and regulatory bodies.
GamCare Chief Executive Victoria Corbishley called for prevention measures that address harmful behaviour rather than focusing exclusively on how individual products are legally classified.
The organisation is seeking closer cooperation with regulators, researchers, businesses and people with lived experience to improve the identification of gambling-related harm across digital services.