Gambless is a new tool for the prevention of gambling harm and for the treatment of pathological gambling.
Gambless is the first mobile app to deal with problem gambling using a holistic mental health approach. The app offers a number of useful resources to problem gamblers, including informative articles, a self-care diary, coping-skills exercises, diagnostic tests, an emergency chatbot, and several psychoeducational courses – its core feature.
Gambless is not and should not be used as a medical device or in place of professional medical advice. The app helps guide you and is to be used as a tool for self-growth. It should not be used as an exclusive diagnostic or therapeutic tool.
All information on our apps and website has been created as an educational resource and should not be used as a substitute for proper and personalized professional medical advice or be used to make decisions about your health. Gambless cannot answer any medical queries either through the apps or via email or any other means.
Compulsive disorders are best diagnosed by professionals in the mental health field. However, thanks to our expertise, we have created different self-diagnostic tests which you can take within the app.
These tests can be useful to spot harmful behavior and they can help you assess and be aware of certain risk factors.
Let’s start with a fact: gambling harm can happen even before a pathological behaviour develops.
One of Gambless goals is to educate users on the risks surrounding gambling in order to prevent harmful behaviours. As a gambling addiction is known to develop progressively, the use of Gambless is advised to anyone involved in any form of gambling. Furthermore, if you are not affected personally but have friends or family members suffering from compulsive gambling, you can use the app to educate yourself and then use this knowledge to help those affected.
The application is accessible from both iOS and Android devices.
It can be downloaded from the following links: Google Play and App Store.
Yes, you need to be connected to the internet to utilise the app.
Gambless works both on wi-fi and on 3G/4G/5G mobile operator connections.
The initial stage of creations dates back to 2018, when our team of psychologists researched ways to increase the reach professional treatment in an affordable and convenient format.
A number of formats were tested, including webinars, handbooks, etc. Finally, a different psycho-educational format was tested, with a stepwise process which received great feedbacks from users and saw the number of attendees growing each month.
We then decided to build new features and to create our own mobile app dedicated to mental wellbeing, called “Mindspa”.
During the development stage, we surveyed our course attendees on various topics, including design, app functionalities and other preferences. One month after the launch of the beta version of the app, we conducted an acceptability study and sent out a survey to our 10,000 early users. Over 1,500 responders expressed extremely positive reviews, with a 99% recommendation valuation.
After the success of the first app “Mindspa”, using the same format and features, the “Gambless” app was released on August 31st 2020.
Gambless is a multilanguage tool, currently available in English, Italian and Russian. However, more languages will be added shortly.
The first version of the app offers the following features:
- a “Feed” section, with new articles uploaded daily;
- a “Diary”, which serves a self-care journal and includes some key stats;
- “Psychosutra”, which is a bank of coping-skills exercises, divided by feelings;
- the “Courses”, our core feature;
- the “Tests” for initial self diagnostic of gambling harm and risk factors;
- an “Emergency” chatbot, which is designed to help users in a moment of crisis.
Our psycho-educational courses, and in particular the Problem Gambling program, have been written by our team of psychologists specialized in gambling addiction and other compulsive behaviors.
They combines different treatment techniques, including CBT and Gestalt therapy, and are structured into multiple sections, educating users on the topic, giving actionable tips on how to consciously understand needs and emotions, and how to actively take control of their gambling behavior.
By following the courses, users will receive one new lesson each day. This stepwise approach is specifically designed to avoid overwhelming the patients, so that changes and improvements can be gradual and more effective. Furthermore, throughout the duration of the courses, users will also receive daily assignments – a form of encouragement to put in practice what is being learned, so that healthy new habits can be formed.
The Gambless app utilizes various therapeutic techniques to help you manage gambling addiction, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Gestalt Therapy.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective ways to manage addictions. It empowers you to change the way you think, feel and behave towards a particular activity – giving you an opportunity to control your behaviours.
Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy which emphasises personal responsibility. Its goal is to teach patients to become aware of significant sensations within themselves and their environment so that they respond fully and reasonably to situations such as potential triggers.
Multiple studies have shown that CBT reduces the frequency of gambling the severity of a gambling addiction and patients who underwent CBT treatment lose less money compared to those that do not. Those who underwent CBT treatment reported an improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, CBT is used to minimize gambling harm by the National Problem Gambling Clinic in London, UK (https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/services/mental-health-services/addictions-and-substance-misuse/national-problem-gambling-clinic).
Furthermore, several studies have highlighted the benefits that Gestalt therapy brings to patients suffering from addictions. The practical learning experiences help one develop the ability to act with awareness and intention, to respond to challenges with more confidence and ease, and to create profound and positive changes. This therapy seeks to assist the vulnerable individual through the process of accountability for their behaviors and actions so that the abuse risk decreases over time. In this, the role of Gestalt therapy in addiction recovery is mainly growth, as well as maturation, of the person as a whole individual.
Scientific articles backing these claims:
(1) Cowlishaw, S., Merkouris, S., Dowling, N., Anderson, C., Jackson, A. & Thomas, S. (2012). Psychological therapies for pathological and problem gambling. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 11. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008937.pub2
(2) Gooding P, Tarrier N. A systematic review and meta-analysis of cognitive-behavioural interventions to reduce problem gambling: Hedging our bets? Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2009;47(7):592-607. DOI:10.1016/j.brat.2009.04.002
(3) Toneatto T, Pillai S, Courtice E. Mindfulness-Enhanced Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Problem Gambling: A Controlled Pilot Study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 2014;12(2):197-205. DOI:10.1007/s11469-014-9481-6
(4). Oei T, Raylu N, Casey L. Effectiveness of Group and Individual Formats of a Combined Motivational Interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Treatment Program for Problem Gambling: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 2010;38(2):233-238.DOI:10.1017/s1352465809990701
(5). Matzko, Helga M. Gennant, and Helga M. Gennant Matzko. “A Gestalt Therapy Treatment Approach for Addictions: ‘Multiphasic Transformation Process.’” Gestalt Review, vol. 1, no. 1, 1997, pp. 34–55. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44394010.
We are trying to work with as many operators as possible to offer our resources free of charge to anyone.
Some operators have already introduced our services as part of their Safer Gambling procedures. Get in contact with the Customer Service or Responsible Gambling department at your current gambling operator and ask them for free access codes to Gambless courses.
Gambless is still new and thus it’s too early to have any statistically significant data. We hope to gather more feedbacks and to share them by the end of 2021. We also encourage researchers and institutions to conduct independent reviews.
Our twin app “Mindspa” – which has been created by the same team and has exactly the same features as “Gambless” – has extremely high approval ratings.
We have recently run a survey among active users, and these are their feedbacks:
- 96% of responders find our Articles useful;
- 86% of responders use the Diary regularly;
- 71% of responders use Psychosutra, and 97% of them said it helps them to feel better;
- 94% of those attending any course, said it helped their condition;
- 99% found the course assignments to be valuable;
- 80% of those who didn’t attend a course, said it was due to economic reasons;
- 47% of responders used the Emergency chatbot in a moment of crisis, and 93% of them said it helped them to calm down.
Also, 99% of the responders said they would suggest our app to a friend.
Gambless is and will always be fully independent. Be it with regards to gambling operators, industry lobbies, governing bodies or any other organisation. We also commit to being completely transparent.
Gambless is not a charitable organisation. Mind Solutions Ltd is a private company, which currently runs two mobile applications (branded Mindspa and Gambless).
Mindspa has a B2C business model, which means it’s very receptive of customers’ trends and needs and it continuously improves to be competitive in the markets it operates in. It also means it doesn’t rely on any external help or influence to run its business and achieve profitability.
Gambless has a B2B business model. The aim is to cooperate with gambling operators and governing bodies in order to increase the reach of our support tools so that they can be of service for those in needs. We are receptive of feedbacks from our partners when the objective is to improve our services and to increase usability and accessibility of our tools. However, we will never take any advises from our partners regarding the content of the app, which is created by our independent team of psychologists.
We will never share users’ personal data with anyone. As part of our mission, we aim to contribute to researches in the field of gambling addiction, in order to better understand compulsive behaviours and to share best practices. Thus, we might occasionally publish aggregate data and/or cooperate with research organisations to build and run case studies.
Privacy and data protection are the pillars of Gambless. We know that this is an extremely important topic for you, and therefore we take this very seriously.
For detailed information, please read our full Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
We strongly encourage you to share feedbacks and reviews. They will help us improve the application, as well as serve as a reference for others fighting their addiction. You can do so by sharing a review on the App Store and Google Play.
If you have any suggestions to improve the application, you can also write us at contact[at]gambless.org.
You can turn off notifications directly from the Gambless app, disabling the option under the Setting items.
You can also follow the below options, as per Android Support guidelines.
Option 1: In your settings app
- Open your phone’s settings app.
- Tap Apps and notifications > Notifications.
- Under ‘Recently sent’, find apps that recently sent you notifications.
- To find more apps, tap See all.
- Tap Advanced.
- You can turn off all notifications for a listed app.
- To pick specific categories of notifications, tap the app’s name.
Tip: If you don’t see ‘Recently sent’, you’re using an older Android version. Instead, tap App notifications and tap an app. You can turn notifications, notification dots and notification categories on or off. If an app has categories, you can tap a category for more options.
Option 2: On a notification
- To find your notifications, from the top of your phone screen, swipe down.
- Touch and hold the notification, and then tap settings
- Choose your settings:
- To turn off all notifications, tap Notifications off.
- Turn on or off notifications that you want to receive.
- To allow notification dots, tap Advanced, then turn them on.
If you wish to have further information in managing notification on your Android devices, then we recommend for you to visit this website:
https://support.google.com/android/answer/9079661?hl=en-GB
If you suspect other people might access your Gambless account, you can change the login details by changing email and password using these options available the app settings.
For an extra layer of protection:
- make sure to use a password which is unique for the Gambless account
- make sure to logout after each session and/or activity on the app
This way, even if your phone is accessed or unlocked without authorisation, your Gambless account will remain secured.
You can reach our Technical Support at any time by either email at [email protected], or simply by using the Contact Form within the app or on the website.
Our support team is available 24/7. The average response time is currently below 2 hours, though during night hours and weekends it might take a bit longer for the team to reply. We guarantee a response time under 24 hours.
Our aim is to resolve your issue as soon as possible. As each issue will be unique, we plan on giving you a timescale for resolving the issue once we have identified the technical issue.
You can delete your account directly in the mobile application, by following these steps:
From the menu bar, click on “More” > “Settings” > “Delete account“.
After closing the account, all data stored on our databases will be deleted. This includes your name, email address, notes and diary entries. Additionally, you will lose access to any purchased courses and saved articles. You can also request the removal from our mailing lists, by either clicking “unsubscribe” in our emails, or at any time submitting a request to [email protected].
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