Editorial role: Responsible Gambling Expert
Expertise and editorial role
Dr. Hassan Al-Zaabi is a clinical psychologist specializing in behavioral addiction, self-exclusion tools and harm-reduction content. He spent eight years in clinical practice supporting people affected by problem gambling before moving into gambling-harm content advisory work in 2023.
He reviews the site’s responsible-gambling content, including deposit-limit guides, self-exclusion walkthroughs and warning-sign checklists. His sign-off is required on pages that discuss odds of winning, deposit limits or self-exclusion. He checks that the wording does not trivialize risk, encourage chasing losses or pressure vulnerable readers to gamble.
Education and credentials
- PhD in Clinical Psychology, with a focus on behavioral addiction
- Eight years of clinical practice in gambling-harm treatment before moving into content advisory
- Continuing education aligned with GamCare’s treatment-provider framework
- Responsible-gambling reviews reference GamCare and International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG) frameworks
Editorial scope
- Responsible-gambling hub and harm-reduction content
- Self-exclusion and deposit-limit guides
- Problem-gambling warning signs and support information
- Footer disclaimers and age-verification messaging
- Final responsible-gambling review of content discussing winning odds, limits or self-exclusion
Read How We Rate Bookmakers for the site’s current responsible-gambling criteria.
Career timeline
- 2008: Completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology and began doctoral studies in Clinical Psychology, focusing his early research on behavioral addictions. He also worked as a graduate research assistant on a university study screening outpatient populations for problem-gambling indicators.
- 2016: After completing his PhD in 2014, with a dissertation on cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches for behavioral addiction, he began clinical practice at an outpatient mental-health clinic in 2015. His caseload increasingly included problem-gambling referrals, and he published a peer-reviewed case-study paper on CBT-based interventions for gambling-related distress.
- 2022: Completed continuing education aligned with GamCare’s treatment-provider framework. From 2018 to 2022, he ran a behavioral-addiction track within a larger clinical practice, providing individual therapy, group sessions and family-support consultations. He also advised local support organizations on self-exclusion design and contributed clinical input informed by ICRG research frameworks.
- 2026: Having moved into content and editorial advisory work in 2023 while retaining a limited consulting caseload, he established the site’s sign-off requirement for pages discussing odds of winning, deposit limits or self-exclusion.
- Present (2026): He oversees the responsible-gambling hub, self-exclusion and deposit-limit guides, warning-sign content and footer disclaimers.
Editorial byline
Reviewed for accuracy by Dr. Hassan Al-Zaabi, PhD, Responsible Gambling Expert.
Meet the other specialists responsible for our reviews on the Editorial Team page.
