In the near future, our country will coordinate with the recommendations of the European Commission regarding the Responsible Gambling. More precisely, Romania is going to have a Foundation for public interest, mainly for the protection of minors and people addicted to gambling.
Thus, GEO 92/2014 stipulates, among others, that ‚a Foundation for public interest will be established, whose members will include per request members of the Advisory Board allied with O.N.J.N.. Its main goal will be the compliance with the measures on the socially responsible gambling, as adopted by the European Committee for Standardization.’
All the licensed organizers will undertake to contribute to financing this Foundation, and the ‚annual funds will be alloted to the activities and programs of protecting the minors, prevention and treatment of gambling addiction, promotion and advertising for its activity.’
ROMBET believes that one of the main missions of this new Foundation should be to inform the public – notably the vulnerable categories, such as minor and young people, about the gambling risks. As important as this one is the prevention from happening of the gambling problems, counseling and help given to the people who are struggling with the gambling addiction, with the aid of a partnership of the Foundation with specialists in the above issues.
“We truly believe that it is imperative to start with a professional, unbiased evaluation of the current situation, via an updated study regarding the gambling incidence in our country, for all the categories of games.
Moreover, as we have access to the data from a similar study performed by GfK Romania in 2012, we will be then be able to compare the two sets of information and examine the development and trends of this phenomenon. Besides this first part of the study, another research made along with psychologists will aim to determine the number of people with gambling addiction issues, for each category of games. This will be a real challenge for the specialists, as it is generally known that there is no clear delineation between the ‘normal’ player – the one who gambles for entertainment and the troubled player – the so-called addicted, who rarely acknowledge their point at issue.
It is therefore important to acquire these data, in order to have an image as close to reality as possible of the gambling in Romania, which will not leave any room to various partisan information and interpretations regarding the extent of the addiction phenomenon’, said Mr. Dan Ghita, President ROMBET.
The players – better informed. The minors – completely excluded and protected
As already mentioned in the previous articles on responsible gambling, the word ‘gambling’ must be synonym with entertainment, not trouble. We do have at our disposal the experience of other European states with a real tradition in this sector and, based on the best practices, we need to find the best ways to assure that we can prevent the gambling problems and help the people who unfortunately are dealing with them.
For the Foundation activity, we think is it essential to conclude solid partnerships with medical practice offices, specialized in counseling addicted players and their families.
The messages of the Foundation should follow separate paths, depending on their target groups:
– When communicating with minors, it should be very clearly transmitted the legal provision stating that their participation in gambling, as well as their access to the gaming rooms is forbidden.
– When talking to adults, they need to hear more about proper balance, gambling as entertainment but also about prevention and counseling, where necessary.
Plus, all the messages should be supported by a site for responsible gambling, as well as campaigns for information and education, in various forms, for optimum media coverage.
“Another valuable aspect in supporting the Foundation objectives should be the courses organization for the staff, so that the employees be able to acquire the skills of spotting a potential gambling addict. These employees should be taught how to approach and handle these people. Also, a direct involvement of the relevant associations will make possible delivering seminars for the operators, so that they become aware of the importance and necessity of the social responsibility’, believes Mr. Dan Iliovici, Executive Director of ROMBET.
ROMBET Association provides full support and assistance for the implementing of the responsible gambling issues in Romania and commits to keep you abreast with any updates on this issue.
We are looking forward to your comments and suggestions sent via address office@rombet.com
Thank you!
