At a glance
- WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on October 5, 2023.
- Moving content that starts automatically and lasts more than five seconds needs a way to pause, stop or hide it (2.2.2).
- The prefers-reduced-motion media feature tells you when a visitor has asked for less motion.
- Never hide or delay safer gambling and accessibility features to improve a metric.
Where the goals meet
| Practice | Accessibility benefit | Performance benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Reserve space for late content | Content does not jump away from magnified views or a reading position | Lower CLS |
| Pause control and no autoplay under reduced motion | Meets WCAG 2.2.2; less distraction | Fewer bytes and less decoding |
| Native HTML controls (button, select, details) | Keyboard and screen reader support built in | Less JavaScript to download and run |
| Instant visual feedback on tap or key press | Users know the action registered | Better INP when heavy work follows the paint |
| Real text instead of text in images | Resizable, translatable, readable by assistive tech | Smaller than image text |
Motion: carousels, previews and tickers
Casino pages often move: rotating banners, autoplaying game previews, jackpot counters and live tickers. WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide, level A) requires that moving, blinking or scrolling content that starts automatically, lasts more than five seconds and runs alongside other content can be paused, stopped or hidden, unless the movement is essential. Success criterion 2.3.3 (level AAA) asks that "motion animation triggered by interaction can be disabled, unless the animation is essential to the functionality or the information being conveyed".
The prefers-reduced-motion media feature reports whether a visitor has enabled a reduced motion setting on their device; MDN describes the reduce value as indicating "that a user has enabled the setting on their device for reduced motion". Under that setting, stop autoplay, show posters and use simple fades or no animation. This site turns off transitions when the setting is on.
Interactions: lean and native
Custom dropdowns, sliders and modals built entirely in JavaScript need careful work for keyboard and screen reader support, and they add code to the main thread. Native elements bring both for free. Where custom controls are needed, keep their handlers small so the next frame comes quickly; see INP.
Layout: stability and zoom
People who zoom or use screen magnifiers see a small part of the page at a time. A layout shift can move content out of their view entirely. Reserving space for media, widgets and banners, as in the CLS guide, helps them as much as it helps the metric. Test pages at 200% zoom and at narrow widths, and make sure nothing scrolls sideways.
What not to trade away
- Do not lazy-load or delay safer gambling messages, age notices or licensing information that a market requires to be visible.
- Do not remove focus outlines to make a design look cleaner.
- Do not replace text with images to control fonts.
- Do not drop captions or transcripts for video to save bytes.
Questions
Do jackpot counters need a pause control?
Yes, if they update automatically and sit alongside other content. WCAG 2.2.2 covers auto-updating information whatever its length and asks for a way to pause, stop or hide it, or to control how often it updates, unless the updates are essential.
Is a skeleton screen accessible?
It can be, if it is hidden from assistive technology while loading and the real content is announced or focusable when it arrives.
Does reduced motion mean no animation at all?
Not necessarily. Remove non-essential motion, especially large movement and parallax. Simple fades are often acceptable.
Sources
- W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, W3C Recommendation, October 5, 2023.
- MDN Web Docs, prefers-reduced-motion, no date checked.
- web.dev, Optimize Cumulative Layout Shift, last updated February 7, 2025.
- web.dev, Optimize Interaction to Next Paint, last updated September 2, 2025.