BETTER CHANGE
But in gambling where the industry’s reputation comes under
continued attack (sometimes deservedly but equally undeservedly) we have to pay very close attention to the publics perception of what we do. Gambling is a perfectly legitimate way for people to spend their leisure time and money, it has been for centuries and the best way to keep gambling enjoyable and safe for the masses is through a well-regulated industry that puts the customer at the heart of its operation. When I founded Better Change it was born out of a frustration
that so many great ideas, projects and innovations around player safety did not come to fruition and make it to the customer. Sometimes this would be for economic reasons, often it would be because it didn’t fit with the regulatory framework and occasionally because it was felt it didn’t benefit the business. I wanted to change that narrative and demonstrate to our
industry that good safer gambling practice does benefit the business. Much of the safer gambling focus over the past 5 years has been focussed on restricting play, that once an issue has been identified we must then do our best to restrict that persons play or stop it completely and signpost them to support. For those where serious harm has occurred this is of course the correct and possibly only course of action but it only effects a small minority of our customer base. For most of our customers who want to have a positive relationship with gambling this approach
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does not appeal, it simply does not engage with them so realistically why would the industry want to adapt it? Instead, I wanted to bring a focus on Positive Play, what can we proactively do to re-enforce good gambling behaviours? How can we work “with” our customers instead of “doing to” them providing education and awareness tools that help them build a positive relationship with gambling and empowers them to make their own informed decisions. I am very proud to share that we have just marked our 3rd
anniversary at Better Change and I would like to think we have made great progress in promoting positive play but it isn’t just our battle. I am writing this article having just attended our first trade show of the year, as always we are extremely grateful to the organisers for investing in the safer gambling sector and providing valuable floorspace and time on their agenda to promote our causes, but as so often happens the safer gambling area is the quietest part of the show. That’s on us not the event organisers and as a collective the safer gambling community need to take ownership of that and evidence the benefit of customer welfare to our customers who are you the operators, game designers, regulators and trade bodies which along with us make up an industry that I am proud to be a part of and I hope that you are too. Wishing you a happy and prosperous new year – Vicki.
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