Only those companies that take responsible gaming seriously will survive in the regulated markets of the future agreed a panel of industry representatives led by Santiago Asensi. The group which included Entain’s SVP for American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling, Martin Lycka, Bill Pascrell of the Princeton Public Affairs Group and Jessica Maier of Malta-based Play’n GO were speaking at the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL) spring conference in Seattle.
There was a time when the casino industry identified its problem gamblers and called them VIPs: that approach won’t continue to work in online gaming. The tools are available to identify gaming addicts and intervene with regulators increasingly looking to the industry to put its house in order. Initiatives like the Single Customer View in the UK and attempts elsewhere to promote responsible gambling through data sharing are signs of what is coming, the panel predicted.
The first step would be to promote the national self-exclusion schemes that exist in many countries but which are poorly advertised. Then there are a couple of steps which will be needed before the technological possibilities can be rolled out in practice. First, the potential hurdle of Europe’s GDPR regulation will need to be overcome. When it is there will need to be a common understanding of what constitutes a marker of potential harms.
The session concluded with a hope that those members gaming industry who make responsible gaming a core part of there value will reap a regulatory reward for there efforts. At a time when sports betting in particular is burgeoning in the US and North America, it is essential for operators to be ahead of regulators in protecting its customers of the future.
Asensi partner Alla Serebrianskaia was also participating in the IMGL conference. She led a roundtable discussion on legal restrictions to the marketing and promotion of gambling.