Slovak regulator launches research drive on youth gambling risks

• URHH has launched Safer Digital Future, a research and prevention-design mandate targeting risks to Generation Z and Generation Alpha.
• The regulator signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Digital Games at the Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of St Cyril and Methodius in Trnava.
• The move comes as Slovakia’s National Council weighs a broader overhaul of the country’s 2019 Gambling Act.

Slovakia’s gambling regulator URHH has launched Safer Digital Future, a research and prevention-design mandate aimed at understanding how gambling-related risks reach Generation Z and Generation Alpha audiences.

The initiative runs through a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Digital Games at the Faculty of Mass Media Communication, University of St Cyril and Methodius in Trnava (FMK UCM).

Mapping the overlap

Under the partnership, URHH and FMK UCM will gather evidence on how emerging digital products and behaviours affect younger audiences, with particular focus on where video gaming and gambling converge.

Loot boxes, skin betting and randomised reward systems sit at the centre of that convergence. URHH argues these mechanics are eroding the distinction between playing a game and placing a bet.

The regulator points to modern monetisation models, sophisticated game design and social media as the forces blurring that line. It warns that repeated exposure to chance-based spending could normalise risk-taking among Generation Z, which URHH defines as 14 to 29 year olds, and Generation Alpha, defined as 1 to 13 year olds.

Younger generations, digital natives

Libuša Baranová, Director General of URHH, tied the initiative to how deeply technology now shapes younger generations’ sense of identity.

“For generations Z and alpha, technology is not just a tool, but a natural environment that shapes their identity, social relationships and worldview,” she said.

“They perceive the digital and real world as one interconnected whole. Therefore, if we want to effectively protect the young generation from the risks of the digital age, we need to be one step ahead. We need to know detailed specifics of the gaming industry, video game design and psychological mechanisms that affect young people.”

FMK UCM runs Slovakia’s first academic programme dedicated to game studies. It will supply that expertise to help URHH track developments, assess risks and design prevention strategies, alongside a standing framework for knowledge exchange between researchers and regulators.

Juliána Mináriková, acting dean at FMK UCM, said the arrangement gives the faculty’s research a direct route into policy.

“It is important to understand their mechanics not only from the perspective of design and player experience, but also from the perspective of their possible risks,” she said. “We see cooperation with the Gambling Regulatory Authority as an opportunity to connect our knowledge of the gaming industry with practical prevention tools and thus contribute to ensuring that young people are able to use the digital environment responsibly.”

Reform still pending

Slovakia’s National Council continues to debate a broader review of the country’s 2019 Gambling Act. Online casino gaming has become the largest vertical in the Slovak market, feeding arguments that the legislation is overdue an update.

A package of amendments from Sports and Tourism Minister Rudolf Huliak was vetoed last year by President Peter Pellegrini, who has since signalled openness to a more comprehensive reform centred on consumer protection.

URHH took on Slovakia’s primary consumer-protection mandate for gambling from 1 January 2026, with a dedicated department operating from 1 February. The Safer Digital Future partnership builds on that expanded remit, which already surfaced in the regulator’s scrutiny of gambling advertising during the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Other European regulators are tracking similar ground. The Dutch Kansspelautoriteit has published studies pointing to gambling becoming normalised among young people, while Sweden has commissioned its own research into how children first encounter gambling.

The FMK UCM partnership puts Slovakia among a growing group of jurisdictions treating the gaming-gambling boundary as a research question first, rather than moving straight to new rules.