Senet chief calls for greater collaboration on responsible gambling

The gambling sector should increase collaborative efforts and make more use of customer data in order to improve standards of social responsibility, the Senet Group’s CEO Sarah Hanratty has told iGamingBusiness.com.

At the end of Responsible Gambling Week, Hanratty (pictured) paid tribute to the sector’s progress in recent years, most notably the “huge step change” of recognising “that a lot more needs to be done to make gambling safer”.

Over the course of the last week more than 11,000 gambling venues and online sites across the UK and Ireland have promoted responsible gambling. Some have offered advice to customers via literature in shops while others have donated advertising space to messages about responsible gambling.

Hanratty told iGamingBusiness.com that companies have acknowledged it is in their best interests to raise social responsibility standards.

“Increasingly, companies in the sector recognise that problem gambling and indeed the harm caused by it are issues they must and can address, and that the long-term sustainability of the sector is dependent on them stepping up to this challenge,” said Hanratty, formerly the director of corporate affairs for the Portman Group alcoholic drinks trade body.

“In that respect, you have now seen some of the largest operators setting out multi-year commitments to design and integrate new tools and processes to address problem gambling within their businesses.”

One development announced this week was that Ladbrokes will use its sponsorship of Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) to promote Senet’s ‘When the Fun Stops, Stop’ (WTFSS) campaign throughout the 2019-20 season. The logo will feature on the shirts of all 42 Scottish league clubs, as well as featuring in all matchday programmes, on LED boards and on interview backdrops.

In terms of future improvements, Hanratty has identified changes in advertising and data as key areas of focus.

“We simply must be better at collaborating… on safer gambling initiatives and sharing best practice,” she said. “Senet Group’s partners’ approach in developing the WTFSS campaign and then sharing the IP for free is one practical example of how this can work.

“There are still a great many areas for improvement, such as deploying the significant amounts of data held by each of the operators in a way which can help identify patterns of potentially harmful play to trigger interventions.

“There is also more to do on advertising, and in particular advertising around live sport, and the industry needs work with government and other interested parties to address this.”