Responsible gambling is not taken lightly around the world. In fact, there is an entire week dedicated to the matter and it arrives in November. What is it going to mean for the industry and what are the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling Chairman’s plans for the future. John Hagan is on the job to tackle problem gambling, by the looks of it.
Responsible Gambling – A Whole Week to Think About it
The Responsible Gambling Week is an annual event that takes place in November. This year, the event is scheduled for November 1st through November 7th. It will be presided by the Chairman of the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling John Hagan who will sit down to discuss the implications of allowing problem gambling to spread and how to best counteract the activity.
The event targets the United Kingdom and Ireland, although it has already started to grow beyond the territories of these two countries. The main objective of the event is to reach out to customers and their families, as well as anyone who may have gambled on occasion, and communicate the meaning of responsible gambling.
One of the natural highlights of the event would be how to seek help if such is needed. There will be a panel dedicated to familiarizing the masses with the available responsible gambling tools that would allow anyone who has fallen in this common pitfall to reach out and seek help.
Even though, it’s the Responsible Gambling Week organizing the event, much of it is happening because brands have decided to sponsor the event, which however doesn’t detract from its integrity.
The Different Outlays of Responsible Gambling
Brands have a particular interest in casting themselves as responsible. The UK may have been one of the most accommodating legislations in the world when it came to gambling, but this is changing quickly, as new integrity laws are coming into effect.
Some iGaming operators are even seeing an existential threat in the new legislation, so everyone is trying to push ahead with responsibility campaigns that will hopefully appease the UK Gambling Commission and its diligent underlings.
While there have been a lot of marketing, there have also been a lot of successful initiatives that have effectively brought down the number of problem gamblers. And yet, more efforts need to be allocated if there is to be an actual difference in the long-term.
That’s why a number of brands are now revving up their operations in this regard, just days before the Week so that they can showcase their latest initiatives. It makes sense for the brands to be doing this out of their own free will, as the measures enacted by the government have often been pernicious.
The ban on the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) has been one of the heaviest hits that the industry has taken in recent years and all operators that want to stay on top of the field will certainly also want to get ahead of the oncoming regulatory changes and make sure that they cushion the brunt of the latest slew of restrictive measures.
