UKGC chief says industry needs better customer understanding

November 15, 2018 1:37 PM
  • CDC Gaming Reports
November 15, 2018 1:37 PM
  • CDC Gaming Reports

UK Gambling Commission Chief Executive Neil McArthur spoke at the Raising Standards Conference in Birmingham last week, using his time at the podium to call on the industry to collaborate and to strive to understand their customers better in order to make Britain a leading light in the world for fair and safe gambling.

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McArthur called for a three-pronged strategy in his speech: improve the industry’s ability to detect early warning signs of problem gambling, improve its standards of customer communication and care, and make a significant change in advertising strategies.

He referred to the need for change as “a race to approach the minimum requirements… a race to look for real solutions to the public health issue of gambling-related harm”.

The RSC has always been designed for, and directed at, market leaders and those with senior roles in gambling firms. Through conferencing at the executive level, it aims to achieve change and reform in the gambling sector.

The conference was well-attended, attracting over 170 leaders from more than 100 companies in the gaming sphere.

McArthur’s speech was hard-hitting, especially given that it comes on the tail of a slew of major penalties levied at the industry this year, as well as regulatory changes that allow for larger and more punitive fines.

“I am not going to talk about tipping points or last chance saloons or existential threats. I know that our policy work, our compliance work and our enforcement work has got your attention. The overriding theme of today will be how well do you know your customers?” said McArthur.

He also referenced changing attitudes towards gambling advertising in the UK, asking the executives in his audience, “Do you really need to wait for government intervention on advertising when we all know this is a growing issue?”.

McArthur also called attention to a very interesting and somewhat unsettling statistical exercise: taken as a whole, only about 1% of players in the gambling population could legitimately be called problem gamblers. However, 26% of players under 25 who hold multiple gaming accounts are problem gamblers, and a further 24% are deemed moderately at risk of developing a problem. These are staggering figures that make clear the need for a change of course in the gaming industry.

He lambasted those in the industry who would claim that the floor amount of problem gamblers had already been reached and that further reducing the number would be of limited success as well as punishingly expensive.

“Can you imagine seriously (using) that type of argument in relation to health and safety at work? We are not impressed with assertion… and we adopt a precautionary approach when the evidence is not necessarily conclusive. That approach isn’t going to change.”