Simon Westbury, 1xBet: “We need to educate players about safer gambling, but also change the perception of gambling: it isn’t for wealth generation”

Shows & conferences - 16 October, 2026

During SBC Summit Lisbon 2026, Focus Gaming News sat down with Simon Westbury, Strategic Advisor to 1xBet and Chairperson at 1xCare, to discuss the operator’s efforts to change perceptions, its values and the work of its independent safer gambling foundation.

Asked how he measures success in shifting 1xBet’s reputation, Westbury said it is hard to define, because it depends on tangibly showing that perception has moved. He said the past year had meant a lot of work and travel, and that the approach has been to be more open and engaging, and to give comment when stories develop, “because there’s always two sides of the story”. “I can’t change the past,” he said, adding that he has addressed it and answered every question put to him, but “can try and impact the future in a positive way”.

Since he joined, he said, the company’s value system has rested on three areas: regulatory and jurisdictional growth, with more than 35 local licences; partnerships; and empowering the team, whose talent he believes has not always been recognised.

He then turned to 1xCare, which grew out of the company’s research reports on Western Europe, Africa and Latin America. Those studies found a “patchwork” of approaches. In Africa, he said, the priority was education: “We need to educate players about safer gambling, but also change the perception of gambling: it isn’t for wealth generation.” In Latin America, the research pointed to greater use of technology, and in Western Europe to a lack of clarity, consistency and communication. Westbury stressed that 1xCare is an independent, non-profit company registered in Cyprus, whose committee members are independent of 1xBet and make the funding decisions.

It is built on four pillars: research; education, including of players, the industry and young athletes; technology, with a public health benefit built in; and player wellbeing and support. “Player protection cannot be clinical,” he said, arguing that technology can make it less intrusive and softer.