BETTER CHANGE STATESIDE I
It should not be underestimated what work has already been done in the UK with data suggesting that addiction levels are coming down and education services are at an all time high. The continued clash between centralised support from the NHS or third party organisations and who funds what puts at risk the progress we are making. A recent article by Lee Willows, talks about the importance of “a choir of voices and organisations in this space” and how we should celebrate the fact we have so many options for prevention and treatment of gambling related harm. Maybe the industry as a whole need to take stock and see what we have done so well and to help sustain the industry and pull together in one direction while still allowing creative flair and individual ideas and projects to make an impact, and if not, learn why not. Industry events both in person and online are regular
occurrences and from our experience always well attended by all types of stakeholders. There is barely a week that goes by without an event happening both large and small. A particular enjoyable one we were recently present at, was not surprisingly looking towards the UK’s Gambling Act review and how this might impact the industry. What really struck us, and those we spoke to, is that without genuine industry collaboration players can not fully be looked after and the industry not sustained in a socially acceptable way. The current perception of the industry by the public, including the media, is often one of negativity and views operators by seeing them as predatory. Our experience of this is that operators, a lot of the time, want to do the right thing and talk about exciting plans to improve player protection and how they alone will revolutionise the industry, but this seems unrealistic. The word collaboration is bandied about too often without any real action, how many more months can the industry talk about what they are going to do and with whom, but things seem to happen at such a slow pace they are soon outdated and the next idea to think about arrives. At a talk from ITN’s head of legal and compliance, John
Battle, he painted a very different picture around collaboration in the media industry and their relationship with their regulator, OFCOM. It seemed to be very harmonious and ultimately had every stakeholder pulling in the same direction with a true supportive nature. Could the same be said about the Gambling Commission, operators, and other interested bodies in the gambling industry? At Better Change we want to celebrate the different ideas and concepts to help protect players more, that’s why we came into this business. If another organisation has a great idea, we would like to help them put the idea into practice through supporting with technology, content, launch or testing. The idea and mission to protect people from gambling related harm cannot happen if it only occurs when it is your own idea! If an operator wants to try something new and unique too, can it be said they are supported to do this? Or do they risk a huge fine and negative publicity if something they were trying to do for the good of the customer doesn’t work? Surely this practice stunts creativity and encourages operators to continue doing what they need to do to tick boxes and nothing more. A study by the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) in Canada was conducted in March 2021 about stakeholders collaborating effectively, in this case looking at the digital well-being of young people which encompassed gambling. The insights showed that progress would be made further by
collaboration across stakeholders and not just those within gambling but “collaborations should focus on including stakeholders of various types from across sectors”. This makes a lot of sense in that once again; true collaboration
will have the greatest impact if everyone who is putting gambling in front of someone else is seen as accountable. The example from the media and how they work with OFCOM is also where collaboration could happen, across various industries to find the best practice. The report also highlighted something we are very keen to
support at Better Change, evaluation, and impact of initiatives. The report identifies that more progress can be made by doing things differently, “namely the need for more research, additional safeguards, improved support options, and evaluation of initiatives” We have a focus of five projects which we are keen to collaborate with operators and other centralised or third-party suppliers to deliver. The projects will then be reviewed and evaluated, often by our academic partners to see what impact they have made, and guess what? If they don’t have the desired impact, we wouldn’t see this as a failure or punish ourselves but the insight we get will help us to develop the projects further and ultimately allow for even greater impact to protect people from gambling related harm in the future. Our projects revolve around the following areas and are of
course all linked to preventing gambling related harms and using this vehicle to help people in other ways: • Social housing • Esports
• Igaming careers • Horse racing • Centralised help - Bringing all resources together for everyone to use Our project around horseracing is a great example. For it to be
a success the number of stakeholders that need to collaborate is huge. The idea behind the project is that people who live closer to horseracing courses are more likely to be exposed to gambling on horses and visit the tracks from an early age. Not a lot of research is available to look at this issue and our
project aims to include this research while also working with people in the proximity to racecourses and educate them. This education piece would be around the potential risks of gambling but also what the racecourse can offer more than gambling; what is the sport about? This approach can in turn open the doors up to potential careers which might not have been considered and help change the perception of the racecourse and the sport putting it in a positive light within the community it is located. The stakeholders which will determine the success of this
project, to name a few, are the racecourses, the various associations of racing, the operators with a strong presence in racing, the local communities and possibly local service providers. We would like to speak to any of these stakeholders about their views. Could this concept not be replicated for land-based Casinos and Bingo halls? It is something we would be keen to explore, with partners who have a similar mission in the true nature of collaboration.
David Richardson Strategic Partnerships Manager Better Change
david@better-change.org
JULY 2022 29
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