Collaboration between operators is key to helping vulnerable gamblers

In the Consumer Protection Zone, I was chatting with Paul Roffe and James Taylor, both case managers at the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (Ibas), which has been looking after customers for more than 20 years.

Today the responsibility and duty to take care of our customers, especially the more vulnerable, has expanded to all sectors of the gambling industry.

As a betting shop manager with Paddy Power we are provided with learning tools and guides to enable myself and my shop team to identify vulnerable customers and to guide and support them in an efficient and sensitive manner.

It’s a role I take seriously and with that in mind I had gone to the CPZ to listen to a Consumer Protection discussion, to see what I might learn, share ideas and hear opinions on how we can move forward together.

There I met Rob Mabbett, 2016 Betting Shop Manager of the Year. Rob, once of Betfred, and now working for the Gordon Moody Association charity.

He was clearly passionate about his role and the importance of looking after vulnerable customers in a non-judgemental way.

He went on to tell me about the Gambling Therapy App. He explained it was a vital source of immediate support, especially to those who felt vulnerable but for various reasons felt they could not reach out to friends and family.

Rob made an interesting point in his address. He said he believed our success involved collaboration with the other sectors. Collaboration was the root to sustainability, he said.

David Caruana, head of Responsible Gambling from Kindred Group, was another speaker and said he fully supported sharing ideas between operators, adding that it was also important that individual businesses strove to build trust with customers.

Joe Bell, head of Safer Gambling and Anti Money Laundering for Rocket X mentioned the advantages of sharing data used to identify vulnerable customers, who should obviously remain anonymous.

Dr Katherine Spilde spoke at another seminar on conscious advertising with customer protection at its core and mentioned a recent study in California where all gambling advertising was banned.

She said the study had shown an increase with problem gambling since the ban – because the same ads had previously shown where to find help for gambling if needed.

She mentioned that the volume of advertisements may not be as important as the content.

The consensus, in my opinion, was that although we had come on in leaps and bounds in social responsibility, we could improve further.

Each day we are making progress, but together we need to share ideas, empower our customers to make the correct choices for themselves, as well as acknowledging the importance that our customers’ welfare should always be first and foremost.

Let’s all continue to collaborate and move forward together.

Thursday is the final day of ICE London, running at the ExCeL from 10am-4pm

If you are concerned about your gambling and are worried you may have a problem, click here to find advice on how you can receive help