LOTTOLAND PARENTing 101
Lottoland CEO Nigel Birrell gives GIO his view on how the gambling industry can drive social responsibility for the next generation.
T
he gambling industry has increasingly turned its attention to responsible gambling in recent years, with more and more operators looking to build a culture of safe gaming that protects their players from the adverse consequences of gambling. Undeniably, the industry should be taking customer safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. In addition to introducing more stringent Know Your Customer checks, whereby no player can even place a bet without uploading identity documentation, there are a number of features available to gambling websites that can increase safety for players, including deposit limits, log-in alerts, time outs, and self-exclusion facilities. I would always recommend providing educational information for customers, to help them understand what staying in control means – empowering them to identify when gambling stops being an enjoyable leisure activity and becomes a problem.
PROTECTING THE NEXT GENERATION
However, it should not be forgotten that responsible gaming also means protecting the vulnerable and preventing underage gambling. Creating a culture of safe gambling is a much wider consideration than simply providing gaming control tools. Sadly, the dangers of youth gaming is an issue that has until recently been mostly underreported. In acknowledging our own responsibility to protect young customers, we recently launched PARENT, which is an educational “youth gaming” programme designed to raise awareness of responsible gaming challenges with teachers, parents and children.
THE RISKS POSED BY ONLINE GAMING TRENDS Recent research1
In addition to concerns about online bullying or receiving inappropriate messages, many parents also raised the issue of gaming addiction, as well as related problems such as depression and social anxiety. As children have access to increasing amounts of technology and internet, the line between gambling and gaming has blurred. Concerns have been raised about the impact of certain features in as video games – most notably “loot boxes” – which have led to a spike in gambling addiction among children. A recent audit by the UK Gambling Commission2
showed that close
to a million youngsters have been exposed to gambling through “loot boxes” in computer games or on smartphone apps. Worryingly, children aged between 11 and 16 are increasingly presenting characteristic signs of gambling addiction, such as obsessive thoughts about gambling and gaming, lying to their parents about their gaming and stealing money to engage in luck-based pay-to-play games. The audit also showed that almost half a million children gamble on a regular basis, while the number of problem gamblers aged 11 to 16 has quadrupled in two years to 55,000. As an industry, we have a collective
revealed that almost half of
children in the UK enjoy unlimited time online each day, while 1 in 5 have access to online games without any restrictions. What also became apparent was that parents everywhere had fears regarding their children’s social media activity and online safety. More than a quarter of UK parents with children aged 16 or younger admitted to knowing very few of their children’s online friends and the majority did not have access to their children’s social media accounts.
96 SEPTEMBER 2019 GIO
responsibility to acknowledge how vulnerable developing minds are, and how important it is for children to avoid behaviours that can develop into more serious gambling activities in later life. Our PARENT initiative therefore sought to start an open and frank conversation about the risks associated with gambling, so that if children chose to gamble in adulthood they could learn to do so in a safe and responsible way.
SWITCH OFF TO SWITCH ON An important conclusion reached in recent
months is not that gaming should be completely avoided, but rather that responsible gaming should be encouraged instead – in the same way that we would encourage our adult betters to monitor their deposit limits and consider self-exclusion, the same must apply at the very start of that journey for the youngest players. Teaching self-awareness and self-control is an important life lesson that can We recognise social gaming as of entertainment in children’s lives, developing positive skillsets such as strategy, communication skills and team work. However, moderation and creating balance is key.
For this reason, it’s important that we teach young players to “switch off to switch on” – that might mean putting down phones, logging off for extended periods of time and encouraging As an industry, we need to recognise the importance of supporting young people today and continue our efforts to teach responsible gambling from the very get go.
1
The study was conducted by OnePoll between 19th and 28th of September 2018 and polled 2000 parents of children aged 7-16.
2
https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/ PDF/survey-data/Young-People-and- Gambling-2018-Report.pdf
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