One of the main themes of the gaming industry, at the center of this edition of the Ice London fair, underway until tomorrow, February 9, is that of sustainability. Which for the sector starts from a correct approach to responsible gaming.
Pieter Remmers, president of Assissa Consultancy Europe and authentic "guru" of the subject, with over 30 years of experience in the field, offers an overview of the situation at global and Italian level in the February magazine of GiocoNews (available in full at this link).
From your general point of view and as an international expert on the subject of Responsible Gaming, what would you say about the level of preparation and understanding of the gaming industry, as regards the subject of responsible gaming?
“Good question, I think with the understanding of the gambling industry there is nothing wrong, In the past 30 years that I am involved in the industry with a focus on RG, I have learned that by far most operators and suppliers know what it is about. But doing something is something else. It is easy to say social responsibility and sustainability are important and yes, we’ll have to take care of it. But in most cases it has not a lot to do with being a frontrunner and being pro-active, it is more ‘we do what we need to do regarding regulatory requirements’ and not much more. It is not easy to guess what it the percentage of operators that are pro-active, but it would not surprise me if it it less that 20 percento of all operators. Looking at suppliers it is even less”.
What is the level of preparation on the subject of the regulators? And above all, what role can regulators play in creating a sustainable environment from the point of view of responsible gaming?
“Regulators are much more prepared. Maybe 80 percent or more of all regulators in Europe is very well informed. Australia and New Zealand are second. The knowledge is much less in other continents, maybe reasonable in some South-American countries, less in Asia and not too much in North- America (with the exception of Canada) and Africa. Regulators can play an important role if they would be in power of decision making in cooperationship with th experts, trustful stakeholders and not only carrying out decision created by non-expert politicians”.
Do you believe that there are more accurate/in-depth or Responsible Gaming-oriented legislation that can be considered best practices at a global level?
“What is missing most, in your opinion, in gaming world to start a truly virtuous path in this sense?
Most of the in depth Responsible gambling oriented legislation, like it or not, approve it or not, can only find in a couple European countries like: Belgium, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Sweden. Not one size fits all policies but with views from different angles, with different solutions, but at least based on practice. Not always the best practice and not always evidence based, but at least it is a try to set up regulations based on experience and when possible research.
Missing most? That is on the side of the operators and suppliers that are being asked to focus on sustainability and not on the short-term profit. At G4 (www.gx4.com) we try to keep ahead of the developments in the business market: operators and suppliers as well as regulators using the developed audit system that leads to real content and evidence based Rg certification”.