Interactive CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
How do you galvanise all the stakeholders in the industry to universally act responsibly, and how do you communicate this message to the govern- ment, the general public (customers and non-cus- tomers), business leaders, employees, media, investors and analysts? Who should be the voice of the industry and how do you agree on the right course of action?
We are a very disparate and complicated industry. There are lots of different groups and different viewpoints in terms of regulation and legislation, making it difficult to speak with a collective voice. A common criticism from government is that they don’t know who to engage with on industry issues.
I hope that the Senet Group will play a key role in pulling together these difference voices. We are not looking to make policy, but to have conversa- tions about what constitutes best practice. There is an urgent need to discuss what works and what doesn’t work. Governments and regulators do not want to engage with multiple different agencies, with different agendas. The Senet Group could be the single voice that makes a real difference.
Industries with bad reputations often don’t under- stand why they suffer from negative perceptions. Within the gambling industry the opinion is that it’s a reputable industry that is proud of its contri- bution to the economy and society. How do you address the internal and external perceptions?
Speaking in terms of Paddy Power, I think the vast majority of our employees are proud to work at the company. We’re a big employer, particularly in Ireland, with a sense of pride in innovation having built the business from scratch in 25 years. It’s a pride that’s instilled in our culture.
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The broader question, in terms of how highly scrutinised we are as a business, means that we always face challenges. People have strong moral views about gambling - particularly at a local level. Therefore we have to keep making the posi- tive case in increasingly creative ways.
In the past we have focused on the economic arguments too much; we haven’t talked enough about the other issues that people care about. We have to address advertising and social responsi- bility in particular, and we need to listen to people more carefully.
What role does responsible gambling play in addressing the negative perceptions of the wider community, and what balance needs to be struck between doing good deeds and being seen doing good deeds?
Responsible gambling is critical for the industry as a whole and it has to be the basis on which we hold a licence to operate in the future.
Our view is that you must embed social responsi- bility in the fabric of your business, imposing self-control measures in all the products you offer to players. And we have to go beyond that in com- municating this message to customers.
Our primary aim should be to advance our responsible gambling practices in order to deliver the best possible experience for customers. However, it is crucial that we effectively promote and communicate the good work we are doing on this, in order to retain the trust of our customers and counter negative perceptions.
Can the newly established Senet do enough to
promote the image of the industry in a positive light? Is there a need for another association tasked with specifically influencing and building the reputation of the industry?
The Senet Group was launched two months ago, but doesn’t formally come into being until the first of January.
With Senet, we’re not just creating yet another association for the sake of it - we recognise that there are a number of bodies active in the indus- try already. We have seen in the past that initia- tives like this can fail, but that’s usually because good intentions have had little substance, backing or money behind them. The four founding mem- bers of Senet have all backed the group with a budget, deliberately ensuring that we launch with a concrete package of initiatives.
The four founding members of
Senet have all backed the group with a budget, deliberately
ensuring that we launch with a concrete package of initiatives.
Among these is the commitment to create the first ever responsible gambling TV advertising cam- paign, to commence at the beginning of January 2015, as one of the founding principles of the group is to address public and political concerns on television and retail window advertising.
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