Kenny Alexander: Online stake limits will only exacerbate problem gambling
GVC chief warns lobbyists that an online casino clampdown “could damage the very people it seeks to protect”
GVC chief executive Kenny Alexander insists UK gambling operators are learning from past mistakes to better protect UK consumers from gambling-related harm.
In an op-ed ahead of the return of UK sport this week, Alexander said protecting consumers using an evidence-based approach while behaving responsibly as an operator was the “decent and moral” thing to do.
Promoting GVC’s approach to responsible gambling, Alexander highlighted the operator’s markers of harm algorithm, as well as the voluntary withdrawal of football advertising in the UK and a 10-fold increase in donations made towards the research, education and treatment of problem gamblers.
The GVC chief did, however, criticise lobbying groups campaigning for online casino stake limits, despite the Gambling Commission finding no evidence of an increase in gambling-related harm during the Covid-19 lockdown.
GVC CEO Kenny Alexander
Source: GVC
“There is a significant anti-gambling lobby that believes punitive and mandatory restrictions – notably clamping down on online stake thresholds – will help problem gamblers,” wrote Alexander.
“I don’t doubt for one minute their genuine desire to help solve the problem, but such measures would actually only serve to exacerbate the issue.
“In other words, it is an approach that could damage the very people that it seeks to protect,” he added.
Several gambling-related harm treatment groups used the weekend to call for strict limits on consumers ahead of the imminent return of UK top-flight football. Responding to these calls, Alexander claimed that while they are “superficially attractive”, they would drive players who may be at-risk towards unlicensed sites.
The GVC boss also called on regulators to work with the industry to allow for a collaborative approach to responsible gambling, before imposing stricter regulation of players.
“Get the approach wrong, and we will only make things worse by pushing those who are most vulnerable into the hands of the unscrupulous black market,” Alexander reiterated.