1xCare advisory board sets out player protection strategy at SBC Summit
The 1xBet-linked player protection body used SBC Summit 2026 to detail its independence, funding model and the regulatory fragmentation its advisory board says is pushing players towards unlicensed operators.
1xCare, the player protection initiative that launched in June 2026, used SBC Summit 2026 to set out how its advisory board intends to influence debate on responsible gambling across the sector, SBC News reported.
The body had originally pledged to use research, education, technology and player well-being as its four pillars, positioning itself as a contributor to industry debate on player protection rather than an arbiter of it.
Advisory board chair Simon Westbury told the summit that 1xCare began as an organic idea arising from meetings at 1xBet's offices in Cyprus, but operates with full independence and is registered as a separate company. He said the advisory board, not the operator, makes autonomous decisions on funding.
"The actual rationale for 1xCare is to make a positive impact in a verifiable way across the industry," Westbury said.
The board brings together Chris Bird, former chief operating officer of Manchester City FC and now chief executive of the Raheem Sterling Foundation, Quirino Mancini, co-founder and former president of the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) and a legal adviser in iGaming for more than two decades, and Sissel Weitzhandler, former director of compliance and regulatory affairs at Allwyn and co-founder of the Executive Gaming and Risk Advisory group (EGARA), who is also an IMGL member.
Bird said education had drawn him to the initiative. "The one thing that Simon put to me when we first spoke was the passion around education," he said, noting that his own consultancy work focuses on education for young people in sport, including players, staff and fans.
A central aim for 1xCare, according to SBC News, is fostering dialogue between operators, regulators, suppliers, players and governments, with the board pointing to a need for greater alignment on regulatory requirements so operators compete on consistent terms.
Mancini, who has advised international operators through the transition from unregulated '.com' markets to regulated jurisdictions such as Italy since the mid-2000s, said operators once labelled "bad guys" were among the first to seek local licences and accept compliance obligations. He said most large international operators now accept that holding a local licence and operating within the rules is the only sensible route forward, given the addictive potential of gambling products and the reputational risks attached to the industry.
Weitzhandler warned that rapid regulatory change and sudden advertising restrictions are creating fallout that pushes players towards unlicensed operators because compliant businesses cannot compete under the new conditions. "Regulation only protects the players it can reach. We therefore need to make sure that we have open licensing regimes and regulations that can achieve the objective of protecting players," she said, calling for an adaptable, evidence-led and pragmatic regulatory approach.
Brazil was cited as the clearest example of this dynamic, after President Lula ordered a full ban on online gambling just two years after the country's regulated market opened to international investment. Mancini described the move as "ill-judged" and "entirely polls driven," arguing that prohibiting online gambling so soon after legalisation amounted to trying to end a problem by removing the entire system built to manage it.
He drew a parallel with Italy's abrupt 2018 advertising ban, saying the underlying challenges echo what is now unfolding in Brazil. "My conclusion is this: prohibiting flat out is always wrong," Mancini said.