• Corporate Social Responsibility Gambling Laws
• Corporate Social Responsibility Gambling Industry

• CSR and CSD Related to Government Policies in the Gambling Industry. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was firstly defined by Bowen (1953) as the obligation of a corporation to pursue its policies, to make its decisions, or to follow its lines of action desirably in terms of the objectives and values of the society (Carroll, 1999).
• Responsible gaming programs are framed by state laws and regulations, which include the funding and provision of problem gambling services. In addition, many gaming companies implement programs with a range of responsible gaming measures that go beyond what is required by law or regulation.

YGAM were delighted to be invited to speak at the recent London Conference on Social Responsibility for Gambling Operators thanks to Paula Pusey and Matthew Holley from KnowNow.

YGAM were delighted to be invited to speak at the recent London Conference on Social Responsibility for Gambling Operators thanks to Paula Pusey and Matthew Holley from KnowNow. This was a wonderful event hearing from the industry on the topical concerns and challenges of the day but also how do we think and better understand those challenges of the future. My reflections on the event led me to think about two key learning points which I want to share with you and what we will do next with ICE 2018 on the horizon where YGAM is proudly making its debut as the Clarion official charity partner and supported by the Gambling Business Group.

There is a strong appetite for preventative education
It is so pleasing to hear so many people from within the gambling industry and those external to the industry recognising there is a greater need for high quality preventative education to minimise gambling or gaming-related harm, especially among young and vulnerable people.

Social responsibility indicators accentuating the gambling providers as the corporate social responsibility entities. We propose a set of corporate social responsibility indicators for the economic, social, environmental, ethical and philanthropic areas taking note of the gambling industry specifics. Key-Words: corporate social responsibility. This chapter uses a case study approach to examine an innovative corporate social responsibility (CSR) program designed to engage and motivate employees. MGM Resorts International, one of the largest casino gaming corporations, debuted the “Inspiring Our World” program in 2012 and continues to use it as a guide for the company’s CSR efforts. Despite the fact that Ministry of Gambling is a non-profit organisation that is established to promote welfare and benefit in the Malaysian online casino industry, we have also strived to maintain Corporate Social Responsibility in order to perform our duty in the areas of responsible gaming and honest as well as transparent ratings and review on the Malaysia online casino companies.

At the KnowNow London conference Adrian Sladdin, our Director of Education and I were able to speak of the work of YGAM and how we have been championing this education for the past three years. Proudly we could talk about some of the gambling operators whom have really got behind YGAM and are supporting our charity to deliver this. Corporate Social Responsibility is all about business giving back to their local communities through donations, employee volunteering or sponsorship and is a proven vehicle for fundraising to Britain’s charitable sector today. YGAM took a strategic decision to work with the gambling sector specifically as one of our stakeholders as we believe the sector are keen to help and it is wholly appropriate that profits which are derived from gambling are reinvested in to Research, Education and Treatment (RET).

We are huge advocates for quality, demonstrating social impact & exemplar governance and independent evaluation; the values for any well-governed charity. YGAM aims to epitomise these values and we are known for rolling our sleeves up and getting on with the job. We do not know all the answers when it comes to the delivery of education to minimise gambling or gaming-related harm, but we are working hard to understand and through weekly delivery of activities we are learning a lot. Nothing substitutes ‘getting on with the job’. Our learning is further strengthened when working with our quality partners such as the PSHE Association; Awarding Bodies ASDAN and Pearson; and academic partners City, University of London and the University of East London who have evaluated / continue to evaluate what we do. YGAM contributes significantly to the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB), National Responsible Gambling Strategy, Priority Action Eight: Education to minimise gambling-related harm. We remain keen to work with all stakeholders to capture YGAM’s social impact in this Priority Action.

As readers of my regular posts on LinkedIn will know YGAM are at an interesting juncture on our path as a start-up. We need to preserve the authenticity that everybody loves and absolutely maintain our high quality, but we do need to scale to realise our ambition. I do sense some growing pains ahead but feel assured that our growth is from a current position of absolute quality, independent evaluation, a huge amount of gained insight and with an exemplar governance in place. Our growth will be organic, well managed and impactful.

We have a brilliant team in place at YGAM and I am looking to the gambling and gaming industry to support us with our growth. We need to bring in specialist staff to help us increase our social reach and at ICE 2018, we’d be keen to speak to operators specifically on how we might collaborate and co create. Cash is king in any start-up and uniquely YGAM isn’t seeking just donations, (although these would of course be welcome), we want to help the industry develop first class training and apprenticeships, which is my second take away from the Social Responsibility for Gambling Operators conference.

There is a strong appetite for innovative industry training
Innovate industry training – is there such a thing?

What I have learnt is that while every operator is delivering training, some delivering it very well, however many operators see their training very much their unique intellectual property and there is limited appetite to collaborate, share knowledge and come together ‘as one’. Everybody is seeking the answer to how can we reduce gambling related harm, comply with the regulatory environment and evidence training.

Anybody working in a security role in the United Kingdom needs a SIA License; anybody working on a building site in the United Kingdom needs a CSCS card. There is no national standard for those who work in the gambling industry in the United Kingdom. Employees who work in key positions in businesses that operate gambling need a Personal Management License (PML), but is that enough, why not every employee?

Would it be possible to create this level of licensing or qualification for every employee, well I believe this is something we should consider working towards?

The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board’s, National Responsible Gambling Strategy has a specific Priority Action (specifically Priority Action Six) around Piloting Innovations and, if there was appetite, this could really evolve your current employee training and potentially help raise the public perception of the industry. What would be even better is if this training could be delivered in a bespoke way, to each operator, dovetailing your current training so you do not lose your intellectual property or business / sector specifics; wrapping it around a formal qualification from Pearson (formerly Edexcel) – the leading, Ofqual approved global awarding body and finally by engaging with this training, you are also making a financial contribution to work of a charity such as YGAM whilst crucially, investing in your skilled and talented workforce.

Corporate Social Responsibility Gambling Laws

In June 2017, RGSB published its first annual assessment of progress with the National Responsible Gambling Strategy and Priority Action Six was Red flagged due to limited progress. Colleagues that know me, know I am keen to help and contribute and I am passionate and committed to training and education as one vehicle to minimise harm. The revenue generated through our commercial training with yourselves, by YGAM’s trading subsidiary (YGAM Innovation Limited) would generate a small profit. 100% of this profit would then be donated back to YGAM. This social investment model is demonstrated further as the sole shareholder for YGAM Innovation Limited is YGAM the charity itself.

This model I am describing is possible right now and with prices from as little as £160 per colleague (plus set up and Pearson certificate costs). Why not come and visit YGAM on at ICE 2018 on stand CPZ4 to learn more and chat with our team about why working with YGAM has the potential to deliver social value to you and the potentially the wider industry as a whole.

Lee Willows
Chief Executive
Young Gamblers Education Trust

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We’re delighted to have been announced as a finalist for our first Corporate Social Responsibility Award at the CIPR Excellence Awards 2019. We have everything crossed for tonight’s star-studded event but before we straighten our ties and put our glad rags on, we wanted to share our award-winning entry with you. Gain insight into the impact and engagement our PR and social media teams delivered for a large industry body.

The brief

The Industry Group for Responsible Gambling wanted a targeted social responsibility campaign to promote responsible gambling amongst customers and the wider public.

Responsible Gambling Week (RGW) took place across the UK & Ireland, November 1 – 7th, 2018. Our aims and objectives for the campaign were:

• To raise awareness of the campaign amongst gambling operators and encourage participation
• Raise awareness amongst customers of how to gamble responsibly
• Raise awareness of the tools available to help customers gamble responsibly
• Raise awareness amongst gamblers and in the wider community of where to find help and support for those who need it

Our research and planning

The prevalence of gambling, especially amongst young adults, has become a contentious political issue. Gambling operators have a statutory obligation to ensure their customers gamble responsibly, but they also have a duty as good corporate citizens to go beyond their statutory commitments.

But how do you reach your customers with these responsible gambling messages?

We reviewed research on the subject, including publications by Playing Safe, an independent academic panel working with the casino industry, which suggested an informal, conversational tone has greater cut-through than heavy-handed public health-style messaging. Younger gamblers perceive this as ‘too nanny state’.

We were asked for input into the campaign messaging and it was agreed there would be five central messages:

• Set your limits for time and money
• Only spend what you can afford
• Gambling is not the answer to any problem
• Gambling shouldn’t interfere with your personal relationships
• Gambling when angry is not a good idea

In addition, there were 20 ‘conversation starters’, designed for use on social channels and to trigger discussion. Examples included: ‘Just a heads up…. it’s easy to lose track of time when you’re gambling’; ‘Play smart…know your limits’ and ‘What time is it? Keep an eye on the clock’.

We had three primary audiences we set out to target:

• Gambling operators and staff
• Regular gamblers
• Occasional gamblers and non-gamblers

Our brief from the client was to avoid engaging with national media as they would make it a debate about problem gambling rather than responsible gambling. We, therefore, targeted three main media audiences:

• Trade media
• Regional media
• Alternative publishing platforms

Our strategy was to find a way of creating a national conversation without engaging with conventional national media. The issue of football clubs being sponsored by gambling companies was becoming increasingly sensitive, we used this to approach clubs directly to persuade them it was in their interests to support the campaign.

We knew if clubs shared our assets through their social channels and at their stadium, we would reach a mass audience, including one of our primary audiences: young, male gamblers. We could also use football clubs’ involvement to spark interest with the regional media.

Corporate Social Responsibility Gambling Industry

Strategic tactics

With no budget for commissioning original research or other campaign collateral, PHA conceived and implemented the campaign strategy. Campaign assets were focused on the five key messages about what it means to gamble responsibly, which were created by the Client.

We launched the campaign in the trade press in July to secure buy-in from operators. We maintained momentum through a series of news updates, interviews and thought leadership pieces with John Hagan, chairman of the IGRG. We posted from our Twitter and Facebook channels, creating engaging visual content. We persuaded many Trade titles and online platforms to carry free RGW advertising.

We secured a partnership with the EFL and sponsor Sky Bet, and with individual Premier League clubs.

During Responsible Gambling Week:

• Free adverts appeared in every EFL match programme and on big screens and LEDs
• Key responsible gambling messages and videos were promoted on clubs’ social channels and two teams, Swansea City and West Ham, changed their match kits to carry the RGW logo
• We secured a partnership with the Racecourse Association, involving all leading courses. At a televised Ascot meeting, a race was renamed as the RGW Stakes and the winner’s enclosure was RGW-branded.

Delivery

Our strategy was to make the #RGWeek18 hashtag as widely visible as possible to promote conversation and publicise the responsible gambling messages. We were set a KPI of 10 million impressions – we generated almost 19.5 million.

A small percentage, around 400,000 impressions, were generated by an Instagram influencer campaign commissioned from another agency, involving former cricketer Graeme Swann and hockey player Sam Quek.

With gambling operators facing a political storm, we felt it was important to include political engagement in the campaign. Our approach was to hold a focused drop-in event for MPs with a strong interest in gambling – supporters and opponents of the industry. The event cost nothing and the client felt it led to more concentrated and useful engagement than in 2018.

Our results

#RGWeek18 generated 19,319,184 total impressions for the campaign period – in comparison to seven million impressions during Responsible Gambling Week 2017.

An external agency, Chrysalis, independently evaluated RGW and found that awareness of the campaign amongst the general population had increased by 2% from 2017 to 2018. The proportion of gamblers who had seen responsible gambling messages in newspapers increased from 9% in 2017 to 17% in 2018.

160 pieces of Media coverage were generated as a result:

• B2B Trade and Industry: 64.
• Regional print and online: 62.
• Regional broadcast: 4.
• Football Club websites: 26.
• Racecourse websites: 4.

If you’d like to find out how we can deliver an award-winning campaign for your brand or business please get in touch with us today.