There were a myriad of key discussions and valuable insights from the SBC Player Protection Day, we have picked out just three that could benefit the industry moving forward.
Raising the ceiling on collaboration is a challenge
The level of collaboration amongst operators is currently limited, however, if it could be expanded across the board it could bring a new level of protection for vulnerable players.
Frazer McNaughton, CEO of Betable, underlined that collaboration is something that “every operator and all of the regulators speak about all the time, but its implementation is exceptionally rare”.
According to McNaughton, the industry coming together to adopt training from Better Change and RG24/7, which promotes healthy play, epitomises that the industry is willing to work together on a really high level to make good tools.
Nonetheless, one of the most valuable assets in the modern world is data, and raising the ceiling on data-sharing amongst operators is a far more challenging prospect.
Luke Sugden, Director of Risk and Safer Gambling at Entain, did however emphasise that “there could be a world” where markers of harm are shared across operators, citing where a player has failed an affordability assessment – there could be a world where this is shared with other operators.
He did however point out that this is a stickier problem to solve, whereas with GamProtect we can identify where a customer has a serious problem and where we should do the right thing, it is a fairly binary outcome, whereas with a marker of harm it is very non-binary.
“It is very complex, but I think these are the areas that could be explored in the future.”
Fragmentation hindering progress in Europe
Vasiliki Panousi, Manager of EU Affairs at the EGBA, emphasised that as a result of fragmentation within regulation and safer gambling, there isn’t a united approach to player protection.
Nonetheless, she stated that there is significant research that indicates that standardisation of markers of harm could be of real benefit to increasing player safety.
She added that she has proposed for the standardisation of markers of harm, with nine behavioural indicators that could be detected by operators and risks that could be predicted by operator AI tools. Should her proposals be implemented each region will have versatility to add to the nine markers.
Phil Sherwood, Senior Director of Responsible Gaming at PrizePicks, also highlighted that sometimes volumes of spend isn’t necessarily the most accurate indicator of problem gambling, as the variety of markets that a player engages with is a more impactful indicator, if a player feels the need to bet on every market.
Panousi added that the AI tool would take into account the full combination of markers in order to best understand the situation of the player.
Sherwood went on to underline that one factor that AI would struggle with, but is vital, is understanding whether the player is having fun and enjoying the gambling experience.
“If the person is participating in the activity and it is not fun, that is a huge marker. A lot of these operators have live chat and there is certainly technology that can make a determination of the level of satisfaction that is coming from the player. But I’m sure a lot of bad data would come from that too – people just confused with losing their password or questioning when a deposit would come in, confusing for typical customer service issues.”
Rethinking the VIP model
An effective player protection strategy shouldn’t eradicate operators from having a VIP scheme, but there is a tightrope to be walked.
Industry experts sought to gain a deeper understanding on player protection and increase shareholder value.
“From my perspective, good player protection doesn’t mean that you can’t have high-value customers,” said Andy Danson, Partner at Bird & Bird.
“It does mean that for high-value customers you’ve got to be particularly careful as an operator to ensure that they are in control of their gambling and that they can afford their losses, so there is more work to be done on the operator side.”
Floris Assies, Founder of Better World Casinos, argued that VIP players with greater disposable income are more likely to be gambling for “the right reasons”.
He said: “Some people gamble for entertainment and that’s perfect. It’s very likely that the people who have more disposable income gamble more for the right reasons than those who have less, because they gamble with the hopes of actually getting rich out of it and see it as a form of income, and that’s the wrong motivation for gambling.”
Peter Marcus, CEO of The Marcon Ltd and former Group Operations Director for Entain, who spoke about the importance of VIP account managers understanding their players.
“A real VIP is someone you know a lot about, you’ve met them, you understand their financial situation and you understand their personal situation.
“You know if they’re playing for recreational purposes or if they’re going into the area they shouldn’t be doing. A really good VIP manager’s job is not to maximise their revenue, it’s to manage and look after the customer and to look after the customer in wellness, safer gambling, regulatory AML, KYC et cetera.”
