BETTER CHANGE
The motivation matrix of safer gambling
Better Change’s ambassador, Adam Russell, explores the motivation matrix of safer gambling and how operators can ‘double down’ on positive play to improve their existing processes.
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n Better Change’s previous article, “Have we taken Safer Gambling too far?”, our engagement director Rob Mabbett explained that the current approach of introducing punitive restrictions which block, ban, restrict and stigmatise gambling are not working. As a result, this is demotivating both the industry and its consumers to engage with safer gambling. Contrastingly, and as explored in my article below, Better Change advocates that operators double down on positive play as a way of implementing more effective safer gambling measures which engage with and protect the entirety of the gambling population instead of only those who are acutely affected by such measures. Motivation. Everyone is motivated by something. That applies to people and companies, though - as the Gambling
20 MAY 2024
Commission frequently reminds gambling operators - these should be considered one and the same when it comes to ascribing responsibility for safer gambling outputs: companies are ultimately defined by the collections of people who make decisions within them. In the Gambling Commission’s Compliance and Enforcement report of 2020-2021, it was emphasised that “Businesses do not make decisions – people do. This is why the Commission continues to ensure that personal licence holders are held accountable, where appropriate, for the regulatory failings within the operators they manage.” Indeed, there is an emerging pattern that the Gambling Commission will often bring enforcement action against personal management licence holders after they have brought action against the operator, with reference to the same perceived safer
gambling failures. So, what motivates the people within gambling operators to double down on positive play? Why is this important? How can operators increase focus on positive play? These are the questions that I will explore throughout the remainder of this article.
The gambling industry has become uniquely structured and motivated. It has evolved into an industry where ethics, the legal/regulatory landscape and commercial metrics now align into a multifaceted incentive which motivates operators to ensure that gambling takes place in a safe manner. Doing the right thing from an ethical perspective looks the same as rigidly following the ever-tightening laws and regulations. This approach in turn protects the commercial viability of a gambling business in the short and long term, not least by protecting the longevity of
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