Tiberia spoke of the unfavorable objective factors of the player, such as playing time at a table and payout, directly linked to the activity itself, as well as those psycho-physicals, such as the compulsion to gamble, which are more associated with the player himself.
“Adrenaline and endorphins are major factors in this matter and are part of the risk that the player submits without even having control over when to stop betting and ultimately the risk to which he faces. Industry measures should especially consider the compulsive gambling issue to avoid betting being a problem. Increasingly, the authorities are demanding such a stance from operators and in Europe this action is very well established,” he said, noting that the main objectives are to prevent minors from having access to gambling and especially the online and financial ruins of players with gambling addictive tendency.
“Operators of the continent must have consolidated policies to effectively meet regulatory bodies, including self-exclusion. When entering a gambling site, not only should the game be 'user friendly' but also and especially the existing risks and protections and the operator should give all the information to assist the player including telling him what to do and what not to do,” Tiberia explained, noting that even communication and marketing issues should make it clear that gambling is an entertainment activity and not a way to solve financial problems.
“All gaming modalities should make it clear that the skills do not influence the outcome of the game or bet.” In short, he said, it is up to the operator to protect the player. "If the government does not take care of the player from the demands of responsible gambling on the operators, it will turn against him because he will raise the stakes and spend to take care of the operator," he said.
Karen Sierra-Hughes has brought her experience ahead of GLI in terms of preventing negative impact on gambling for the people and countries where the activity is performed: “Operators must know all the regulators' requirements and comply with positively prevention. Responsible gambling must be a trademark of the industry to be seen as a recreational and entertainment activity.”
Regulators, she said, must understand operations to determine guidelines for validating their regulations to generate the desired effect. “When it comes to consumer protection, one of the most important aspects is that players receive from operators what they are offering, and that package includes their protection. Regulation and protection must be implicit in all operations,” she said, noting that such protections should also be brought to sports betting players.
"Considerations should also be about sports integrity and there are very well defined controls by the market, operators and regulators on preventing the manipulation of results that could be very harmful to gamblers." According to her, responsible gaming will only be well established if operators and regulators understand the whole process very well and make permanent assessments to always improve the protection mechanisms for the player and, ultimately, for the operator.
Karen Sierra-Hughes introduced several winning models of responsible gaming regulation, such as in Canada, Colombia, Argentina, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, “which have very interesting technical standards in protecting players. In Jamaica's case, for example, a third party was hired to manage the responsible gambling program, which demonstrates the concern of the regulator and operators about the theme.”
Source: GMB
