According to a recent report commissioned by the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) cited by The Guardian, the staff working at local betting shops are not properly trained to recognise gambling addicts. Even worse, betting shops staff often encourage customers to bet more eagerly or use gaming strategies that simply do not work.
The rising concerns of the industry about the gambling operators that try to deal with problem gambling came at a moment when the UK Government has had its hands full with the gambling industry report that could end with a severe clampdown for local fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and advertising across the sector.
IGRG Report Findings
The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson described the report commissioned by the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) as “shocking”, saying that it came as a proof that poor practices across the industry were getting out of control.
As mentioned above, according to the report, betting shops staff are not trained well enough to spot problem gamblers or even worse, they see measures against problem gambling behaviour as “pointless”. Some gambling operators set their default spending limits as high as £99,999.
The claims of some staff members that problem gambling initiatives were basically pointless are probably among the most concerning indicators that something is just not right in the industry. Lately, UK bookmakers have been criticised for not paying enough attention to good practices for dealing with problem gambling behaviour among customers. Betting operators also seemed not to be engaged in adopting new approaches to deal with gambling addictions.
In addition, the report says that some of the employees in local betting shops even encourage players to bet on lucky numbers or reinforce false beliefs about slot machines and patters in games that are fully-based on luck. On the other hand, customers often find it hard to see responsible gambling warning signs and messages, which is also a point on which local bookmakers were greatly criticised.
According to the report of the UK’s gambling and betting sector Industry Group for Responsible Gambling, certain “double standards” were indicated in terms of gambling companies’ efforts to reduce possible negative effect of problem gambling. Moreover, the report’s authors said that gambling operators and their staff may not be deliberately deceiving customers, but shared that few members of gambling companies’ staff had actually been trained how to recognise problem gambling and integrate responsible gambling practice.
The Chief Executive Officer of the leading UK charity organisation oriented towards problem gamblers GambleAware, Marc Etches, called the report a “wake-up call” to the entire industry. Mr. Etches also shared that all sectors of the UK gambling industry must make more efforts in order to make sure both their employees and customers know when, how and where to seek help in case of a gambling addiction.
- Author
Daniel Williams
