Context
Ladbrokes is owned by Entain which is the second-largest betting operator in the UK owning 9 UK brands and operating more brands in 30 regulated markets.
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The UK Gambling Commission mandated that all betting platforms provide tools to help consumers gamble responsibly these are spending limits, time limits, time out and self-exclusion.​
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Regulatory updates make this a highly specialised area, it requires seamless collaboration across compliance, content, product managers and cashier teams with UX designers needing to communicate and advocate for a simple user experience.​
The UK brands share a unified approach with their systems including safer gambling tools, this allows for scalability across all 9 brands.
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Ladbrokes Gambling Controls Menu
Project Overview
A Comprehensive review of Ladbrokes gambling tools and operator-set limits, making this the first full-scale audit of this area.
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Much had been added over the years and little taken away and UX debt had accrued!
Goal to redesign an adaptable and scalable solution for all Entain labels including Coral, Foxy Bingo and Galaspins.
The parameters were to use new UI.
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My role included managing the research and documentation, facilitating the regulatory updates, presenting insights and collaborating with redesign solutions.
Timeline Overview
The project started in June 2024 and is set to progress into a squad-based development phase by January 2025, with the goal of delivering the final solutions by Q2 2025.
During this timeline and project we also delivered regulatory updates with affordability limits.
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Discovery Process framework
This large-scale project required extensive research and documentation due to hidden operator-set limit journeys that were unavailable to access using standard user test accounts.
Research for the discovery phase included:
Competitor Benchmarking: Identified industry standards and improvement opportunities.
Heuristic Analysis: Uncovered usability issues in menus and tools.
User Testing: Focused on user's mental models.
Documentation and organisation: Figma was used as a single source of truth. Branches were used for the work on the regulatory updates and a page was set aside to log the UX Debt for 2025.
Daily Collaboration: Ensured alignment, progress tracking, and prioritisation.
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Research a collaborative approach
UX team mapped journeys
Product team shared hidden journeys
Research team heuristic analysis
Insights.
The self set tools were unnecessarily complex and had accrued UX debt from years of regulatory updates.​
Operator set limits were soundly in place for the most at risk.​
The menu and tools made it overwhelming and an unsupported experience for the user.
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Research competitor analysis
*Yellow indicates the regulatory tools​.​​
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Insights.
Ladbrokes has the most tools with some that were unfamiliar and niche.
Account closure is soft with manual reopen this did not match users mental concepts when testing.
2 competitors placed wins and losses info within the menu supporting the user to understand their gambling behaviour.
Research competitor safer gambling menu insights
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Ladbrokes expandable sub headers hide the important familiar tools.
There was a dark pattern of hiding Self Exclusion and Time Out in a FAQ style question in lower menu.
Competitors used dynamic menus, familiar common naming conventions and simpler UI to convey limit status.
Research user testing insights
Separate unmoderated testing was carried out with regular and occasional online bettors aged 18 - 55 yrs for the menu, account closure and product block tool, deposit curfew tool and limit cards displaying minus symbols.
Insights.
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The naming preference Safer Gambling was preferred, Gambling Controls has negative associations.
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For account closure the majority of user's think that it would require a call to reopen, this is contrary to Ladbrokes set up which has a manual reopen.
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The deposit curfew tool is an unfamiliar niche tool with the name curfew having negative associations.
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The minus symbols on limit cards used with net winnings did not match the majority of users mental models.
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The immediate break tool caused an unexpected experience for 2 out of 8 users who were locked out instantly.
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All user were very familiar with deposit limits, time out and self exclusion.
Research Webtracking data and Goverment statistics
Quantitative Insights revealed user behaviours.
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Only 15% set deposit limits during registration.
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62% had not set tools.
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14% had operator-set limits post-affordability checks.
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4% of high-risk users persuaded to set max loss limits.
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Government data revealed 5% said they had self excluded.
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Defining the issue.
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A One size fits all approach with an abundance of tools in a menu was unnecessary as 62% don't set them, betting online has high churn rate with one event bettors.
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User Testing verified that the tools participants were setting were deposit limits, time out and self exclusion and therefore these should be prominent and clearly visible in the menu.
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The data showed that Ladbrokes was applying operator set limits to 14% of user's accounts.
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Key insight simplifying complexity
Understanding user's.
49% of Englands adults have numeracy skills of primary school aged children.
(Source Government’s survey of adult skills, 2011’s Skills for Life).
UK users struggle with math literacy, our platform had an inconsistent approach with transaction, cashier, deposit, and limit cards.
Reviewing these flows, it became apparent we’d made things too complex—internal silos had created a fragmented experience.
An example was the use of plus and minus symbols from safer gambling, payment and transaction history all conveying different mental concepts.
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Plus and minus symbols were used for wins, losses and net winnings withdrawals.
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Plus and minus symbols were also used as UI elements with spending limits and for drop downs in transactions making for complex inconsistencies.
Content heavy blocks of text had been added over the years to explain the maths, however the effect was cognitively overloading user's.
Using my communication skills I explained and eventually persuaded the product, compliance and cashier teams why we had to aim to make this really simple and not continue to apply the internal logic.
Finally, at the end of November, all teams aligned and agreed to apply simple maths logic with the redesign.
This marked my proudest moment at Entain.
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Presenting Key Insights: Communicating Issues to UX and Product Leadership Teams.
This is the presentation style I used to explain to the leadership team the user's painpoints.
I copied the "built for mars" delivery style, it's visual and spells out the issues step by step and you can cover a lot of ground.
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Defining the issue post insights
How might we simplify safer gambling with both self set and operator set tools to support users when they want to make informed decisions?
How might we reduce the cognitive load with maths concepts?
How might we make it easier for users to review and understand their betting behaviour?
We need to deliver
Simple, consistent, relevant and timely support for users
Timeline for delivering specific solutions.
MoSCoW prioritisation of work after research insights had been presented to Leadership team.
Must have: Immediate break tool with additional confirmation screen error prevention delivery Q4 2024.
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Must have: Net winnings in deposit limits and operator loss limits delivery Q2 2025.
Should have: Improved safer gambling tools menu delivery Q1 2025.
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Should have: Aligned transaction and match concepts across all system Q3 2025.
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Could have: Refinement of Account closure and time out tools Q2 2025.
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Won't have: Dashboard for safer gambling tools and betting activity.
Delivering urgent must have solution Q4 2024
Solution - A confirmation step screen.
Early Ideation Solutions for menu
Menu on left was suggested for a quick improvement, however we debated that it still wasn't addressing the complexity.
The menu on the right is an early ideation for limit descriptions becoming dynamic once set, giving the user immediate info about the system status.
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Ideation Solution for recall
Placing recent activity cards in a drop down above the menu could assist user's in understanding their gambling behaviour.
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Recent activity is available from customer hub on Bwin label. Could this be adapted
for the safer gambling menu?
Redesign Brief New UI
Our Head of UX had specifically requested to not use current library components for the redesign.
The rationale was to highlight the significant improvements that UX could make, using new UI elements to allow a fresh view.
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UI Elements for the redesign
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I took inspiration from this screen I found on Mobbin, I liked the personal touch and the calm tones.
The highlight colour used is the Entain purple brand colour.
Amiko is used for the personal message and Roboto for the titles and copy.
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Hi Fidelity Menu Solution
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Adaptable
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Personalised
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Dynamic cards show system status when set
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Unnecessary tools removed
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Simple icons and UI
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Calm UI colours and elements
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Recent activity drop down places the user's relevant gambling info in close proximity
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For a high risk user, the loss limits are placed at the top of the menu list.
Low risk user
High risk user
Solutions for individual tools
During the 4 month project we also worked on improvements for deposit limits, time limits, account closure, time out and operator set limits.
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These are ready for discussion for the squad working model that Entain is adopting in 2025.
Testimonial's
"Frances has that natural inquisitiveness that in my experience all great UXers need. Her approach to deeply understanding a problem space allows her to get under the skin of challenges big or small. Combined with her warm personality she is easy to work with and an asset to any team. During our time working together I found her focus and ability to work through complex problems particularly notable where she illustrated time and again her dependability."
Ash Clay
Head of UX Entain
"Working with Frances has been an absolute pleasure. She has an incredible knack for understanding what’s best for the customer and never hesitates to stand her ground when it comes to doing what’s right. Her passion for learning and willingness to take feedback is inspiring and she’s always looking for ways to grow and improve. What really sets her apart is how much thought and care she puts into visualizing user journeys before diving into any project. That extra effort shows in the quality of her work, which consistently delivers a big impact.
Her dedication, hard work, and customer-first approach make her an amazing teammate and someone I truly admire."
Vaibhav Jain
Senior Product Manager Entain
"Frances is a passionate advocate for exceptional user experiences, fiercely defending what’s best for users while sharing her wealth of diverse insights. Her jolly nature made every interaction delightful, and I hope to stay connected and keep learning from her!"
Milind Roy
Product Manager Entain
"A talented UX Designer whose creativity, user-centric approach and collaborative spirit consistently elevate every product she works on."
Jemel Hibbert
Senior UX Designer Entain
"Not only does she do a fantastic job, she’s super approachable and always happy to take time out of her day if you need help. I hope we get the chance to work together again in the future.
Alice Wareing
Compliance Copywriter Entain
Learning Summary
This large project addressed an area overlooked for years and deemed a low priority. I recognized its critical importance for two reasons: the need to provide users with transparent tools to manage gambling behaviour, and the compliance necessity of delivering an exceptional user experience to meet regulatory approval—essential for the business's survival.
Collaborating with the compliance team, I gained valuable insight into their discussions with the UK Gambling Commission, fostering mutual respect and strengthening the project’s outcomes.
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I confidently led the discovery phase, collaborating with UX designers, compliance, product, and cashier teams to document and fully understand the tools. We delivered key regulatory updates, including operator-set loss limits and affordability checks by the end of October, meeting strict compliance deadlines. This project enhanced my UX problem-solving skills, ability to present to stakeholders, and confidence in working within highly regulated environments.
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Key Impacts:
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Delivered regulatory updates on time, ensuring compliance and maintaining operational status.
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Predicted to drive a £2.2 million revenue increase in Q1 and Q2 based on the solutions developed during my tenure.
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Simplified and aligned safer gambling tools and menu, improving usability and user satisfaction.
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Shifted team priorities to a user-first approach, fostering alignment across compliance, product, and cashier teams.
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I also worked on multiple case studies within the safer gambling domain, embracing the fast-paced environment and enjoying the challenge of rethinking the menu and tools with new UI elements. My documented improvement solutions provided a strong foundation for delivering further business and user experience enhancements in the months following my redundancy.
In hindsight, I recognise the value of involving a broader UX audience earlier. A demo showcasing menu options could have fostered richer discussion and further refined the final solution.
This project showcased my ability to tackle complex challenges, lead cross-functional collaboration, and deliver impactful results in a highly regulated environment.
I’m excited to apply these skills to future opportunities.