The creeping hypocrisy of Safer Gambling Week
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This November, Safer Gambling Week is being held. It's supposed to raise awareness of problematic gambling habits and start a dialogue between operators and customers. Last month, BGO Entertainment had its licence suspended by the G gambling commission. B GO did not make any effort to promote its safer gambling guidelines in the run-up to the week. It was forced to accept restrictions on its license and pay a £2m fine last year. The company was responsible for the suspension of BGT.com. Its social media campaign to promotes safety measures was a strategy of simply Tweeting the same image every week with a standard caption about the importance of setting deposit limits.
Sky Betting and Gambling promotes Safer Gabbling Week on their Twitter page and on the Sky Vegas website. The company claims that the wellbeing of its customers is its top priority. The option to set deposit limits is prominent at the top of the page of Sky Bet's website, while the option 'Set a limit in under a minute' is also prominent on Sky Las Vegas' website and the company promotes its safer gambling credentials.
Sky Vegas targeted self-excluded members of Safer Gambling Week with a promotion. The incident undermines the credibility of the event. Sky Betting and Gifting can expect an investigation by the G gambling commission. It will also be interesting to see if it makes a significant impact on the government's review of G betting law. It was announced last December.
Safer Gambling Week is being held by companies that are not committed to protecting their customers.
James Booth, Head of Acquisition at MrQ, talks about the hypocrisy of Safer Gambling Week and operators' approaches to safer gambling.
James is a customer representative at OnlineBingo.co.uk. He believes that the company's focus on 'No wagering and no nonsense' does not translate to its responsible gambling policy.
James Booth's business is built on the concept of 'sustainable gambling' and he believes player safety comes before profitability. He believes it can sometimes feel invasive and cause friction but they take a cautious approach to ensure customers can afford to play and enjoy their time on site.
JB is an operator that monitors its customers' behaviour. It uses machine learning to understand behaviour more and more each day. It makes decisions on when to step in to ensure players are comfortable.
JB is not sure if there is a dedicated person in charge of player safety. The responsibility is shared among everyone.
Safer Gambling Week is held every year. JB. feels it's a token gesture and all operators send the same messages to all their players. Responsible gambling needs to be central to every player interaction all year round.
Sky Vegas incident highlights the importance of being vigilant when signing up to an online casino. If operators are not meeting their customers halfway and acting appropriately, Safer Gambling Week might as well never be held again.
