Senet Group offers response to UKGC over National Responsible Gambling Strategy

Responsible gambling body Senet Group has offered its response to the UK Gambling Commission’s consultation regarding the new National Responsible Gambling Strategy. The new strategy will come into force from April 2019.

The three-year national strategy, which will focus on reducing gambling harms, will require the collective effort of a wide range of stakeholders, in particular gambling operators and those at the forefront of customer engagement.

In its submission, the Senet Group welcomed the proposed reduction in the number of strategic priority areas from the previous twelve to five, providing greater clarity and focus on the shared objectives across the industry.

Senet has called for an additional stage to be built into the strategy, to identify and clarify the desired outcomes associated with the key strategic themes.

“Without clearly articulated goals, it becomes difficult to assess progress or to focus cross-industry collaboration and action,” the Group said.

Senet noted the change in the central aims of the strategy to focus on reducing gambling harms and that the definition of those harms will be assumed to be diverse and potentially long term, affecting resources, relationships, health and wider communities.

Senet cautioned that this approach should not undermine the importance of individual accountability as recognised in psychological research, and that the Commission might look to other sectors, such as alcohol regulation, where too wide a definition of harm has made it difficult to assess the impact of reduction strategies, due to other correlating factors and co-morbidities.

Gillian Wilmot, chairman of the Senet Group, said: “Elements of the gambling industry have contributed to an environment of mistrust and frustration in recent years, and delivery against the Commission’s objectives in the last three-year strategy has not been sufficiently coordinated across operators.

“However, companies are now making unprecedented efforts to reduce harms, and it’s critical that the customer insight and interaction they bring is put to good use in ensuring that harm reduction solutions have the operational context necessary to succeed and be implemented speedily.”