ICE €20K Donation Powers New Player Protection Tools

ICE Barcelona Champions Player Protection with the Sustainable Gambling Zone

The Sustainable Gambling Zone, which was launched at ICE 2018 as the Consumer Protection Zone, has developed to become one of the most popular features on the show floor and a central component of the ICE Barcelona experience. 

Reflecting on the impact of the feature, Pedro Romero noted. "ICE is probably the most influential event in the gambling sector, so the fact that player protection and safer gambling have a visible place on the show floor really matters, it challenges the industry to do better.

"The Sustainable Gambling Zone underlines that sustainability, harm minimisation and player protection should be part of the main conversation, not something happening on the margins.

"ICE, has done a lot of work to highlight the importance of a safer and more sustainable approach to gambling. That visibility helps charities, researchers, operators, regulators and other stakeholders come together and have conversations that can lead to real progress."

BetBlocker Expands Harm Reduction via €20,000 ICE Donation

BetBlocker International was one of four safer gambling charities to receive a donation of €20,000 at ICE Barcelona '26. The donations which were the result of generous contributions from 11-leading brands comprising Acordjoc, Betsson Group, BGaming, Cirsa, Flutter, Grupo Orenes, Merkur, Merkur Dosniha, Novomatic, Novomatic Spain and Zitro, raised the cumulative total donated by industry supporters to €462,500.

Expanding on the importance of the donation, Romero added: "I see it as a recognition of the work that BetBlocker International has been doing and as encouragement to continue building on that work.

"This support helps validate the idea that harm minimisation measures should not be treated as something separate from the industry, but as something central to its long-term responsibility.

"In terms of specifics the donation is helping to fund an important piece of research.  

"We are particularly interested in understanding how features that can better support people who want additional layers of protection. The goal is to make sure that new developments are not only technically useful, but also informed by evidence, lived experience and expert input.

"The tangible benefit is that this funding will help us develop better tools for people at risk of gambling-related harm, and do so in a more thoughtful and research-informed way."

"In 2025, BetBlocker International supported over 300,000 active users worldwide. That is something we are very proud of, but it would not be possible without the support of so many good people and organisations who genuinely want to help minimise gambling-related harm."

Focussing on the broader impact of the Sustainable Gambling Zone and the ICE Research Institute he believes that whilst they demonstrate what he described as "a willingness to support knowledge, research and harm minimisation solutions" there's still a lot of work to do. 

"These initiatives are a step in the right direction" he confirmed.  "However, we need more of the wider industry to engage with them on a consistent basis. We need more organisations to not only support these initiatives publicly, but also use the knowledge and tools that come from them to make meaningful changes in how they protect players and reduce gambling related harm."