Responsible Gambling is one of the industry’s most important themes, including in Romania, and there is a lot of talk, during dedicated events and others too, about messages, campaigns or support activities which help addicted players.
There is, however, an issue that more and more voices in the field draw attention to, namely prevention, by identifying, educating and advising medium-risk players before they move towards a pathological play behavior.
“Naturally, the main concern and justifiable priority when it comes to responsible play is to offer support and rehabilitation options to players who already feel the effects of addiction.
However, in the long run, it will also be equally important to address players who have not yet reached this threshold, by preventing using proactive measures such as limit situations that are obviously more difficult to manage. It is just as in the case of medicine – better prevent than treat”, said Rombet representatives. UK legislators have also recently drawn attention to this issue, who have also indicated a starting point in defining and implementing far broader Responsible Gambling strategies.
The proposed solution – or, more accurately- imposed by the Gambling Commission (UKGC), was the use of databases held by major operators in the field, not only for commercial purposes, but also for a responsible social attitude. Operators are therefore required to pay due attention both to the promotion of gambling options and to the fullest knowledge of players by analyzing the information already available on any large operator database active in the gambling industry.
According to the specialists, this type of approach will bring long-term benefits at both business and social levels. It will allow a much more detailed knowledge of the players, and one of the methods proposed by UKGC is to use innovative software and technologies to analyze player behavior so that a more detailed and complex profile of the risk categories can be established, including those persons considered of medium risk.
“Innovation is one of the key points of our industry, and its involvement in proactive strategies of Responsible Gambling will bring incontestable benefits. The more operators know their players, the more they can conceive personalized, direct messages that can be delivered to the categories of players, depending on the degree of risk they have. It’s like imposing a check point on every stage of risk and adapting the responsible message to the stage we are in”, stated Rombet’s experts.
Expectations are, therefore, those of deep, committed and consistent involvement in Responsible Gambling strategies. Self-exclusion, RG projects, or phone lines where players or their family members can receive permanent specialized help, as well as direct campaigns which carry the game’s message as being just simple fun to be developed to fit each risk category, wearing customized messages and tailored solutions.
“The more the attention paid to the Responsible Gambling will increase, throughout the entire domain, the more the positive image coefficient will be improved in the perception of the society which the industry has.
Our country has made remarkable progress in recent years: continued improvement of legislation, growing number of licensed operators and licensed support companies, the interest with which renowned operators are moving to Romania constitute the reasons for the Responsible Gambling efforts to be stepped up, including through proactive measures, to prevent players to reach the threshold of addiction. We, at Rombet, will continue to push for the acceleration of corporate social engagement and responsible gambling practices because we are convinced that only this way our industry will grow and get the good reputation we all desire”, concluded Mr. Dan Alexandru Ghiță , President of Rombet.
