Great Reef

What is Great Reef?

“Our role as a regulator is not to stand in the way of innovation, but to help create the certainty and confidence needed for innovation to flourish responsibly,” Mizzi said.

The charter does not create new regulatory obligations and was designed to complement legislation including the EU AI Act and GDPR.

Instead, it proposed a risk-based approach. It suggested lighter controls on use cases such as coding assistants, but strong checks on customer-facing functions, particularly those involving fraud and responsible gambling.

What is Great Reef?

“Silent churn” was prevalent, with nearly half (46%) stating that VIP players often or very often became inactive without prior warning. Around 48% had no indicators of players’ behavioural signals or health. Co-author Viktoriia Grygorenko, CEO at The Playa, called this finding the “clearest commercial case in the report”.

“Every other finding – portfolio overload, fragmented data, reactive workflow, no behavioural signal – resolves here, in revenue that walks out without notice, without warning and without anyone getting the chance to intervene.” 

There was also strong interest in prioritisation tools, with 75% placing high value (8/10 or above) on daily prioritised action guidance for each player. 

What is Great Reef?

The participants suggested timely and relevant interruptions as well as enhanced onboarding processes and in-game assistance, which could include free-play modes, easy access to concise game rules and AI-driven help to clarify complex terms.

For land-based venues, unobtrusive and empathetic staff checks to identify signs of distress without creating a sense of surveillance was suggested.

The study drew parallels with evolving financial regulation, such as the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty, which stressed the importance of providing information and ensuring customers understand and can act on it.