BETTER CHANGE STATESIDE
provide services to people seriously affected by gambling harm, I do not see how gambling harm prevention and the promotion of safer gambling can exist without the input and expertise of those who have to deliver it day in, day out and adhere to their licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP). This left me with a dilemma. Do I reluctantly let people off the bus or do I continue risking alienation from the regulators. As tempted as we were by the latter choice, it would make no sense from a sustainability point of view if we were not able to accept funding to do the work we set out to do. Therefore, I made the decision to surrender my own PML and appoint a new board of directors so that access to the RET funding could be granted. It became a mission of Better Changes to ensure that the conversation around preventing gambling harm was inclusive so that those who consume gambling, as well as those who facilitate gambling are actively engaged in safer gambling. In the past four years in the UK, despite millions of pounds being spent, we have not seen much change when it comes to the prevention of harm, instead we are seeing an increased implementation of restrictive measures which are in danger of alienating the majority of players who gamble safely in the hope that it may stop a minority of players who are at risk from gambling harm. We need to have a better discussion around safer gambling and one that allows the voices of all stakeholders to be heard. It is with great pleasure that we are able to welcome back
compliance expert Erica Young into her role as Regulatory Affairs director at Better Change. Her experience is absolutely vital to our operation. I am also deeply humbled by the fact that she has surrendered her own personal licence in order to commit to safer gambling as you can see from her statement below. But we need to ask the question is this really a necessary step that industry professionals will have to take if they wish to work with safer gambling organisations?
NOVEMBER 2023 31
Statement from Erica Young, Regulatory Affairs Director – Better Change I have just surrendered my UK Gambling Commission PML (Personal Management Licence). Not an easy decision to make. As a freelance consultant in the fields of regulatory compliance and safer gambling, I thought that having a PML was an asset. Holding a PML was an absolute requirement for the interim compliance director post I took for a time. Sadly, NOT holding a PML was an absolute requirement for involvement with a safer gambling start up seeking inclusion on the UKGC’s ‘RET list’ – the approved list of organisations offering research, education or treatment in connection with problem gambling. I spent more than 12 years working for the UK gambling regulator, striving to make commercial gambling as safe as possible for participants. I developed a particular interest in casinos, but also in making gambling as safe as possible for people susceptible to harm. I was on the side of good. Leaving the regulator after that time, I took my personal value system, my moral compass if you prefer, right into the heart of the industry. I remained true to myself; I didn’t sell my soul to the devil; and I worked with many decent people who genuinely wanted to prevent people from ruining themselves. Yes, there’s a tension between the commercial imperatives and the regulatory imperatives in commercial gambling, but whatever personal drivers my colleagues had, everyone could agree with me that no single customer is worth losing your licence over. Do the right thing, even if your reasons for that are commercial! More recently, I found myself at a crossroads in my career, conflicted by wanting to focus my energies on preventing gambling harm by working with Better Change, but knowing that the UK Gambling Commission has me pigeonholed as an industry person and therefore persona non grata. So, I have turned my back on the more lucrative commercial work to focus on the work I believe to be right and important. And I don’t think anyone who knows me will be surprised by that decision.
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