“There is no denying that the gambling industry in general is at a crossroads with increasing legislative, regulatory and public pressure urging operators to assist in tacking gambling addiction. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise to learn that many operators are working to improve and enhance their existing systems with new technologies.”
The above is an extract from our recent blog on how to increase compliance with safer gambling legislation.
We make no apology for repeating this stance, as it has never been more important to make sure your company adheres to the necessary regulations in place, particularly given that £44million in fines were dished out to international gambling regulators in 2020 – a rise from £16million in 2019.
With the regulators clearly clamping down, the meaning behind this blog is an important one – how to evaluate your company’s responsible gaming performance.
You may feel that you have improved your stance on this hugely important issue, but are your improvements enough? Let’s find out together, and work out how to continue making improvements in an ever-developing industry.
Responsible Gaming (RG)
There is no denying that social responsibility in the gaming industry has had to improve in recent years, and that really goes hand in hand with the developments that continue to be made in the technological world.
But what exactly does responsible gaming mean in today’s world? It is no longer acceptable for operators to consistently contact their customers with new offers and bonuses. Quite the opposite, in fact. Operators need to be seen to be actively encouraging their players to behave sensibly with their time and money.
Failure to do so can result in serious financial repercussions, with UK operators being fined in excess of £63.5million since 2017 for social responsibility failings by the UK Gambling Commission.
An ever-increasing number of social responsibility tools have been introduced by gaming operators and beyond, in order to prevent their players from suffering through unsafe gambling. In reality, this is the very reason behind the existence of Rdentify. We have recognised that problem gambling is a real issue, and that the indicators in spotting someone with a problem can often be subtle.
Our technology is designed to help recognise such players, even if their communications have been spread across multiple agents and chats. With Rdentify in your corner, you’ve already taken a huge step in protecting yourself, and more importantly, your players.
UKGC
On the topic of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), they introduced a new social responsibility code rule as recently as October 2019 that for customer interactions.
On the changes, UKGC Executive Director, Paul Hope, said: “These changes have been designed to make gambling fairer and safer for consumers and we expect gambling firms to meet their responsibilities in these areas.”
More recently, in November 2020, the Gambling Commission also started a consultation regarding five additional provisions which require operators to identify early signs of gambling harm, proactively interact with users and evaluate the effectiveness of their measures to protect consumers.
In December 2020, the UK government launched a review of the UK Gambling Act 2005, ensuring that customer protection is at the heart of the regulations, while giving those that gamble safely the freedom to do so.
Nigel Huddleston, UK Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage, stated: “The Gambling Act 2005 is the basis for virtually all regulation of gambling in Great Britain. Last year we committed to review it to make sure it is fit for the digital age. As with the rest of the economy, gambling has changed enormously in the last 15 years, with smartphones giving opportunities to gamble online almost anywhere and at any time, fast-paced innovation in product design and advertising, and new opportunities to harness technology for the protection of players.”
Online Gambling Operators
Online gambling operators rely solely on customer support agents to recognise the signs of problem gambling during their live chat interactions. To ensure that they avoid large regulatory fines and reputational damage, online operators must identify vulnerable users.
Rdentify have the tools to help you comply with these strict and stringent regulations. Our software allows you to identify problem gamblers with increased accuracy and prevent them from gambling on your site, in turn increasing compliance with Safer Gambling legislation and reducing fines and reputational damage.
We started as an AI-powered engine to identify signs of problem gambling risk that are usually a blind-spot for operators, and calculated a problem gambling risk score which enables operators to better meet compliance regulations, and customer support teams to intervene earlier to prevent severe problem gambling events, and to decrease liability and reputational risks.
Using the latest Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning models, we can analyse every line from your live chats and emails, and give each customer a problem gambling risk score. Our simple traffic light scoring system (red, amber and green) means a problem can be quickly flagged to your agent, who can then respond via CRM integration or directly through our API.
With Rdentify, UK-licensed operators can implement the GC customer interactions regulatory requirements and increase their readiness for the Gambling Act review.
For many operators, development time is key. Rdentify integrates easily and quickly with a wide range of live chat providers:
Want to evaluate your company’s responsible gaming performance?
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