INSIGHT - PERCEPTION & PUBLIC IMAGE
and wider communities on the other”. Emphasis by the industry on achieving that balance should, in theory, lead to a more balanced debate in the media.
However, the industry also needs to bear in mind that over 80 per cent of those aged 16 and over believe there are too many opportunities for gambling nowadays, 75 per cent think gambling is dangerous for family life, less than 30 per cent think that gambling in Great Britain is conducted fairly and can be trusted and only 15 per cent consider that, on balance, gambling is good for society.
All of these factors need to be very carefully taken into account when considering how best to advance the industry’s cause.
Greater public education on the potential consequences of over-regulation, including the threat posed by the illegal online gambling black market might be good place to start.
Has the industry really shown enough commitment to rein in disordered gambling?
Te answer to this question depends on who is assessing the answer. Te hardliners in the Gambling-Related Harm APPG clearly think not. More encouragingly, the Gambling
Commission has acknowledged earlier this year that “progress is being made in reducing gambling-related harms” although it accompanied this comment with a warning that this “is not a short term project with easy fixes”.
Taking into account the now longstanding statistically stable problem gambling rates in Great Britain, it would considerably assist the industry if the regulator was to articulate (a) what level of reduction it wants to see in the number of people affected by problem gambling, (b) over what period of time this should occur and (c) what would indicate good progress – each of which were recommendations made by the National Audit Office in February last year.
Is some of the bad press deserved?
It would be impossible to contend that none of the bad press has been deserved, especially in cases where systemic failures in terms of social responsibility obligations have been proven to exist. Tat said, many of the examples of inadequate consumer protection upon which prominent media articles and TV and radio programmes have been based over the last year or so occurred up to five or six years ago. Tat was before some very
significant player protection improvements were introduced or, for that matter, required by the Gambling Commission.
As a result, I think it fair to say that the reputation of some within the industry has suffered from its historic behaviour being judged by the standards of today.
Do you think that public awareness campaigns such as the safer gambling Bet Regret Campaign and Safer Gambling Week help improve the image of gambling? Or do you think that overall the public just sees this as the industry protecting itself?
I fear that public attitudes against gambling have hardened so much in recent years that it will take more than this type of campaign to improve the image of gambling.
I believe that part of the reason for that has been a growing public perception over the last three years that there are far too many gambling ads.
Even well intended initiatives such as the Bet Regret Campaign and Safer Gambling Week have been regarded by some as a belated damage control exercise by the industry and by many as yet more publicity of gambling being forced upon them.
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P49
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