Social responsibility in the egaming sector

The UKGC quite clearly lays out its definition of social responsibility on its website with a remit to keep crime out of gambling, protect vulnerable gamblers and under-18s and to conduct gambling in a fair and open way. I’ve been involved in online gambling since 2004 as a ‘VIP’ player, as an affiliate and more recently in a compliance role, meaning I have experienced this from different angles.

One of the things I find quite striking is the fact that, until now, the onus has been placed firmly on the shoulders of the operator and yet I strongly feel that roles in ‘social responsibility’ stretch beyond this: to politicians, to affiliates, to developers and even the regulatory bodies. Generally speaking, the operators and the affiliates are the financial beneficiaries so when it comes down to financial penalties and incentives to react responsibly, there is logic to the current structure, and they are the right ones to convey the messages. It is probably only a matter of time before affiliates and marketing agencies also bear some of this burden.

However, it’s unrealistic to expect to achieve a socially responsible environment that keeps everyone happy. You can do a lot to keep crime out of gambling and to stop under-18s from playing but when it comes to vulnerable and problem gamblers, you’ll never completely shut the door.

The reason is that you can’t simply stop a gambler who wants to gamble from gambling without some form of education. And this is where the politicians must step up their game. Cutting off the ability for a player to do something is not the answer to problem gambling. It will reduce it, it will have some effect on some players but what it gets from one side it loses to another.

Online gambling is not the same as land-based and you can’t always apply the same restrictions. Online, there are a whole host of offshore unlicensed operators ready and willing to take the punter’s cash, irrespective of where they live. A number of these will leave the punter in a far worse position than they are in under a licensed regime while others will actually be better! I know, because I’ve played at many of them. Which is worse? That will depend on the player and the operator: we’ll probably get to watch this play out if the powers that be decide a £2 minimum bet is more effective than means testing.

So, the politician’s ‘social responsibility’ is to make sure they understand how the global landscape can adversely affect the people they are trying to protect and also to understand the different psychological states that problem gamblers have.

Problem gambling triggers

There are many triggers for a problem gambler. Boredom and spare time have recently been highlighted but most gamblers don’t think they have a problem so forcing restrictions on them requires careful thought. For example, if you impose a £50 deposit limit per day, many gamblers will spend the £50 and then sign up somewhere else: when you are in the moment, you don’t really care where you gamble, you just want to gamble. A better option is to give them just enough of a break to think about their actions. Ten minutes is enough usually for someone to get distracted or calm down, especially when on a losing streak.

Meanwhile, the regulators have a responsibility to create a state of play which protects players from good, bad and good-bad operators! They often get castigated for their decisions, but this is the trickiest job of all – trying to keep everyone happy. GamStop for example is an excellent service but it doesn’t solve the problem for everyone. It will catch the ones that have accepted that they have a problem but only a proportion of problem gamblers are in that boat yet. And if they change their minds? They’ll just go offshore.

And now to arguably the biggest problem at the moment: affiliates. Affiliates have always been a real mix. I’ve watched this side of the industry for years and the changes have been significant but you’re talking about an ecosystem borne out of a time when there were few rules and regulations in any country and there is still a mindset out there that doesn’t quite understand what social responsibility entails.

Thankfully this is a fast-shrinking minority, but the recent instances of misleading editorials disseminated through popular advertising platforms, marketing to self-excluded players and using the Covid-19 pandemic to coax bets are reminders that some ignorance and deceptive marketing practices still exist.

But operators are tidying this sector up fast. It’s a bit of a rock and a hard place because you can’t just ditch affiliates: they will just promote unlicensed operators – which is already more noticeable since the free-play games ban came in – and of course, when players search for a casino or a sportsbook, they go to Google where affiliates take up most of the top spots on all but the most obvious terms.

For the forward thinker, it is then not only obvious that keeping affiliates ‘on-side’ is important but, they can be the best platform for promoting socially responsible gambling. This is really where we have started heading but there is more that can be done. Affiliates must carry 18+ signs and ‘begambleaware’ links already but there is room for more.

The issue of bonuses plays a role here. There is an opportunity to start to educate players that bonuses are not in their best interests if winning is what they want to achieve. It helps the industry start a move away from one of the largest causes of mistrust and at the same time severely tempers any advantage overseas operators might have had to jump in and take advantage. If players start to view bonuses as bad news, they will not only die out, the industry will encourage a more loyal player who isn’t greed motivated.

With all the fines (hopefully!) being ploughed into educating players, there are, for example, help programmes out there that could receive more attention.

There is a certain irony in the way the scrutiny of the gambling industry is playing out. It’s detractors and critics are creating waves and making the industry re-think its approach with social responsibility at its core but that is a good thing for everyone.

Bonuses, VIPs, bet limits… all these deserve attention and when the dust settles, the industry will be much stronger, more aware and have a much more trusting relationship with customers who by and large understand the impact of gambling.

Ian Sims is the founder of Rightlander, a state-of-the-art affiliate compliance platform that allows affiliates and operators to identify potentially non-compliant content in regulated jurisdictions. Prior to establishing Rightlander, Sims was an egaming affiliate for 13 years.