United States
United Kingdom
The UK government is keeping a close watch on its gambling industry as problem gambling numbers in the last few years have skyrocketed.
Certain legislators are pushing for the government to pass new laws that will impose stringent restrictions on betting operators.
This is one of the main reasons why some of the biggest UK gambling firms have banded together and decided to make a pledge which consists of five safer gambling commitments.
The pledge is to address the issue of problem gambling and also to stop harsher measures being placed on them.
Ten of the top gambling operators in the country made a pledge to combat problem gambling in the UK. Some of these names include Bet365, William Hill, and the Ladbrokes and Coral owner GVC. This new pledge is over one of the most comprehensive set of measure that looks to fight gambling addiction and support the UK Gambling Commission’s fight against problem gambling. Some of the other operators that signed the pledge include Aspers, Caesars, Genting, Playtech, Rank Group, Flutter Entertainment and Sky Betting & Gaming.
The companies committed themselves to the following:
to prevent underage gambling and protect young people, to increase the support for treatment of gambling harm, to further strengthen and expand codes of practice for advertising and marketing, to protect and empower their customers, and, finally, to promote a culture of safer gambling
All of these commitments will be independently monitored and reported on.
All of these commitments were put together by gambling operators and their implementation will be done through the Senet Group. This industry body aims to promote the responsible gambling message and support the UK Gambling Commission’s fight to ensure that gambling services are safe and fair.
Senet Group Taking Action
The group is already moving with its plans. It announced a four-year national program that aims to educate young people about gambling. This will be done by the two charities GamCare and the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust with a £10 million grant from the industry. The charities will also work with young people and their families to further improve the knowledge about the risks of gambling.
Senet Group
This pledge comes at the right time since MPs recently recommended a limit similar to those placed of fixed odds betting terminals to be applied to online slot machine games.
