Exclusive Richard Flint op-ed: How the industry can raise its game on safer gambling

It is an understatement to say that the UK gambling industry has had to contend with some reputational issues in recent years. Many within the industry now acknowledge that we have been too slow to understand and respond to public perceptions of what we do.

But beneath the easy media narrative around our industry, we know that change is happening.

Many companies are now aware of the need to collaborate, raise standards, and do the right thing for consumers. Although problem gambling rates in the UK are stable and low by international standards, we now acknowledge it is also true that some of our customers do experience serious harm due to gambling. Although we may never completely solve the issue of gambling-related harm, and there is a need for a level of personal responsibility from our customers, we as operators must do what we can to reduce any harm, and I believe we collectively can do much more than we have done so far.

There has been a lot of talk in recent months about the volume of gambling advertising; the IGRG and its members have listened to this public unease and committed to a ‘whistle-to-whistle’ ban around live sporting events. We have also responded to concerns regarding underage gambling by improving our age verification procedures while respectfully making the point that online operators are already good at ensuring that children don’t gamble with us, due partly to the simple fact that all online gambling is account-based. You wouldn’t know it from the headlines, but the Commission’s own figures highlight that the vast majority of underage gambling takes place offline – privately between friends or on scratch cards or fruit machines in pubs.

These changes are important, but the real opportunity to tackle problem gambling in the UK lies somewhere else: as more and more consumers move online, the best way to protect vulnerable customers is to use data and technology. As Henrietta Bowdon-Jones OBE, founder of the National Problem Gambling Clinic puts it, to ‘fight tech with tech’.

This time last year at the 2018 ICE Conference, I set out Sky Betting & Gaming’s four-point plan to reduce gambling-related harm.

– Using customer data to understand player behaviour and monitor for signs of harm

– Promoting safer gambling by improving the accessibility, awareness and understanding of self-help tools such as deposit limits and cool offs

– Interacting with customers who show signs of harm, discuss their gambling behaviour with them, and presenting details of their behaviour clearly

– Increasing our interventions with customers to stop them harming themselves in the most extreme cases

Twelve months on, while we do not deny that there is a lot more to do, there have been areas of progress at Sky Betting & Gaming, including the following:

– We have improved the visibility, accessibility, and awareness of our self-help tools such as deposit limits and cool offs – and our newly presented profit and loss tool.  These have all featured in our second high-profile TV advertising campaign dedicated to delivering responsible gambling messages. Our research shows a 27% uplift in the use of all safer gambling tools across Sky Betting & Gaming products among active customers in Q4 2018 compared to the previous quarter, and 50% in Oct – Dec 2018 made use of the profit and loss tool.

– We have continued to develop our models, making use of cutting edge big data and machine learning to identify customers who may be getting into difficulties, increasing our interactions with those customers and making interventions such as account restrictions where necessary.

– We have created a new role – head of safer gambling – and brought together a number of our people into dedicated safer gambling roles to give the area the focus and cohesion it deserves. This year, a portion of the company-wide bonus scheme is tied to the progress the business makes regarding safer gambling.

Many other companies have also made progress and we can learn a lot from each other. There have been other positive developments from organisations connected with the industry: the soft launch of GamStop across virtually all online operators; gamban enabling device-level blocking of gambling sites; and action by high street and challenger banks – led by Monzo – now allows customers to block gambling payments from their accounts.

Collectively we must ensure these tools are as effective as possible and complemented by other measures. GamStop has faced some early challenges, but we mustn’t let this deflect us from improving it – negative headlines ignore the fact that problem gamblers are already finding these tools useful, and more will benefit as they are improved.

We know in the gambling industry that despite all of the negative headlines there are millions of people that get great pleasure, enjoyment, rivalry, sociability, excitement, and entertainment from our products. We also know that all gambling carries risks for some people, and the availability of online gambling brings with it both heightened risks but also new ways to reduce harm. We must challenge ourselves every year to raise our game in a race to the top for higher standards. We must be, and be seen to be, part of the solution to gambling related harm rather than being perceived as a major source of the problems.

Richard Flint is executive chairman of Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG) – one of the UK’s largest online betting companies. He was previously CEO and managing director of the Leeds-headquartered operator until he took up his most recent role following the sale of SBG to The Stars Group in 2018 for $4.7bn. Flint is also currently the CBI’s regional chair for Yorkshire and Humber.