Responsible Gambling: What it is, Why it matters and How to make it happen

1
Responsible Gambling What it is, Why it matters
and How to make it happen

• Presentation by Prof Peter Collins
• University of Salford
• GamCare Conference
• October 2009

2
Overview

• Responsible Gambling. A contradiction in terms
  or an unnecessary excuse for paternalism?
• Consumer choice and consumer protection
• Informed choice, the core concept
• Three ideal types those with actual
  gambling-related problems those at risk because
  they currently gamble those who might gamble
• Practical implications
• Latest Developments

3
What is Responsible Gambling? A Contradiction
in terms?

• A contradiction like responsible prostitution
  or responsible indulgence in any vice? For
  many people Yes because indulgence in vice is
  always irresponsible
• No matter what constraints are placed by
  governments on suppliers and consumers of
  commercial gambling services some people will
  always think that, at best, this is only
  preferable to complete prohibition because
  prohibition is impracticable even though
  prohibition is what would be the most desirable
  state of affairs
• The essential fact about gambling, and what makes
  it exceptionally difficult to develop and
  implement sensible public policy for, is that it
  is widely thought of as a vice i.e. an activity
  which typically many people enjoy a lot and many
  people (sometimes the same people) consider to be
  immoral.

4
What is Responsible Gambling? An Excuse for
Paternalism

• Compare responsible gambling with responsible
  golfing or any other leisure activity not
  considered a vice like eating cakes
• A minority over-indulge and do harm to themselves
  and their families
• But thats not the governments business
• And we dont think we need golf and cake
  awareness days or national responsible golf and
  cake strategies

5
What is Responsible Gambling? A Political
Compromise

• In societies where gambling is legal, some people
  wish it werent because they think it immoral or
  dangerous or both others see no difference
  between gambling and any other form of
  entertainment which people may choose to spend
  time and money enjoying most think it should not
  be wholly forbidden to those who enjoy it but
  also that its not as harmless as playing golf or
  eating cake
• Therefore we should have some but not too much
  legal, commercial gambling and what there is
  should be
• - regulated responsibly
• - supplied responsibly
• - consumed responsibly
• This makes responsible gambling a concept which
  cannot be precisely, scientifically or otherwise
  objectively defined because what is to be meant
  by it in any particular context is open to
  negotiation and will express a political
  compromise or consensus
• Because of this what counts as responsible
  gambling at any particular time is always
  unstable and never pleases everyone
• So the main function of responsible gambling
  policies, programmes and practices, from the
  point of view of government and industry, is to
  sustain the support of public opinion for current
  policies and enable them to rebut publicly voiced
  criticisms of current or proposed policies

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So What is Responsible Gambling?

• Responsible gambling can usefully be used to
  refer to any set of policies, programmes and/or
  practices which maximally reduces the likelihood
  that people will harm themselves or others by
  spending too much time or money gambling, while
  minimally inhibiting the ability of those who
  wish to gamble harmlessly from doing so
• This means that implementing responsible gambling
  measures is a matter of promoting not only
  consumer protection but also consumer choice
  (Budd, Eadington, Forrest, new proposed internet
  legislation in USA, consumer surplus and more
  fun)

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Relating the Two Principles

• Sometimes the principle of consumer choice
  conflicts with the principle of consumer
  protection and compromises must be made
• E.g. How much should we curtail the freedom on
  non-problem gamblers in the hope of protecting
  problem gamblers from themselves? (Issues of
  availability, limits on stakes and prizes,
  responsible gambling features etc)
• The principle of proportionality and other
  principles of good regulation are needed here
  (compare speed limits)
• But sometimes the promotion of consumer choice
  and consumer protection reinforce each other as
  when people are addicted or ignorant of what they
  are doing

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Problem Gambling and Informed Choice

• Gambling is problematic in the sense of
  requiring action by governments, by industry and
  or by treatment and prevention specialists when
• - Either the gambler is addicted in the sense
  that he or she would like to stop or cut down but
  cant (for whatever reason)
• - Or the gambler would cut down or stop gambling
  if they knew relevant facts about the gambling
  they are engaging in but which they do not know
• In these cases the consumer is neither able to
  exercise free choice nor is adequately protected
  by government from exploitation and deception by
  suppliers
• Conversely, gambling is unproblematic when
  players are exercising informed choice, i.e. are
  genuinely free to choose because not behaving
  compulsively, and know what they are doing

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So who needs protection and liberation? Three
Ideal Types

• Those who currently gamble and create problems
  for themselves and others much because they are
  addicted or ignorant of what they are doing
• Those who currently gamble unproblematically but
  might develop problems in the future
• Those who currently dont gamble but might in the
  future and who, if they do will need to be able
  to avoid gambling problematically

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What responsible gambling measures need to be in
place for the current problem gambler?

• Information that there is such a thing as problem
  gambling (?50 of problem gamblers dont. Most
  GPs and PCTs dont)
• Information that free, confidential and expert
  help is available
• Information about how to access this easily and
  with minimum difficulty
• Facilities for contacting a suitably sympathetic
  and knowledgeable counsellor preferably
  immediately, i.e. on impulse
• Facilities for accessing further free,
  confidential and expert help with gambling
  problems in one-on-one sessions, in groups, by
  telephone or internet
• Facilities for accessing such help with related
  matters such as
• - comorbidities other psychological disorders
  such as substance abuse, depression or anxiety
  disorders
• - employment issues
• - debt and money management
• - family and other personal relationships

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What responsible gambling measures need to be in
place for the current non-problem gambler?

• Reinforcement of the message that gambling ought
  to be a form of entertainment for which you pay
  by accepting the House Advantage
• Understanding how games work and generate House
  Advantage
• Not being exposed to features of games or the
  environment which mislead about the chances of
  winning or otherwise undermine the ability to
  exercise rational control (e.g. play for play on
  internet, columns with past numbers at roulette,
  encouragement to get intoxicated etc)
• Access to warning signs about the possible onset
  of problem gambling
• Access to information about what to do if you
  think you have a problem

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What responsible gambling measures need to be in
place for the current non-gamblers?

• Access to a general understanding that gambling
  can be dangerous
• Access to information about what you can do to
  avoid getting into trouble if you do take up
  gambling (budgeting etc)
• Access to information about how to identify and
  help someone else who is in trouble as a result
  of problem gambling

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What else needs to be done? Educating
Professionals

• Most obviously, the professionals likely to
  encounter people, some or most of whose problems
  derive from excessive or compulsive gambling,
  need to be informed - as part of their continuing
  professional development - about the nature of
  problem gambling, how to identify it and what to
  do about it
• The group of professionals at present most
  scandalously lacking in this knowledge is the
  medical profession
• But social workers, law enforcement personnel,
  ministers of religion, bank managers etc all need
  to understand this phenomenon

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What else needs to be done? Developing an
extensive and trustworthy knowledge base

• Everyone, everywhere laments the absence of
  knowledge about how best to prevent and treat
  problem gambling, mainly because of inadequate
  scientific understanding of the causes, character
  and consequences of this phenomenon
• This can only be remedied by growing the capacity
  for good research around the world, collating the
  efforts and findings of researchers and
  disseminating it to all interested parties
• This requires centres of excellence in gambling
  studies which collaborate with each other to
  which scholars working on any aspect of gambling
  studies, nationally and internationally would be
  affiliated
• This would mean that
• - all interested parties, including public
  officials (ministers, civil servants,
  parliamentarians, regulators, local councillors
  and officers), industry managers, the media,
  treatment and prevention professionals, other
  professionals and the general public could make
  inquiries about any aspect of gambling studies
  and
• - be confident of getting an answer which
  reflected the honest views of the best
  researchers in the area relying on the best
  available evidence
• The alternative is to leave the shaping of public
  opinion to those who are unscrupulous in their
  use of evidence to further ideological,
  political, commercial or self-glorificatory
  agendas

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Some New Developments

• Increasing investigation of the distinction
  between addicted and non-addicted problem
  gamblers
• Increasing recognition of need to address
  comorbidities in treatment
• Emphasis on Consumer Protection rather than on
  Protecting the Vulnerable
• Increasing understanding by industry and
  government of the link between profits (and
  therefore taxability), public opinion and
  credible responsible gambling strategies
• Increasing awareness of the need for all
  concerned with responsible gambling to
  collaborate rather than compete

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A Concluding Prediction

• We have all over the world spent huge quantities
  of time and money over the past ten years trying
  to minimise the comparatively small amounts of
  harm caused when recreational gamblers for
  whatever reason lose control and to ensure that
  recreational gambling is strictly regulated so as
  to be crime-free, fair to players and protective
  of the vulnerable
• Meanwhile through ideological naivety, political
  and commercial short-termism, incompetence and a
  culture of moral cynicism, we have deregulated
  the financial services industries so as to
  transform them into a giant global internet
  betting business which is neither crime-free,
  fair to players nor protective of the vulnerable
• Some informal estimates (which merit proper
  research) suggest that at least half of all
  traders meet the criteria set out by the American
  Psychiatric Association for identifying probable
  pathological gamblers they are obsessed with
  their bets, they sacrifice their personal lives
  to their betting, they spend far too much time
  betting, they chase their losses, they lie about
  their gambling, they steal in order to sustain
  their habit, and when it goes wrong they
  contemplate suicide
• This is where those concerned with responsible
  gambling will need to focus their energies and
  attention in the future