THE JOURNEY SO FAR…

Hi, I’m Ben Wright. I’ve been working on Safer Gambling since the start of 2019 and it’s been a fascinating journey.

I took up this role for two reasons, really. Firstly (and most importantly), because I want to do the right thing. We’re nothing without our customers, so they should be protected.

Secondly, because in 2018, I heard a talk from Mark Potter, which had a profound and lasting effect on me.

Mark is from one of our partners, EPIC Risk Management, and he was speaking at The Gathering – a company-wide event we hold every year. He told his life story; of how gambling nearly ruined his and his family’s lives. I found it incredibly moving.

When the chance came to work in Safer Gambling, I jumped at it.

Although I knew what we as a business were doing in the Safer Gambling world, I was a relative novice – albeit with a passion – coming into it.

But, with the help of an incredible Safer Gambling team, I’ve gathered a huge amount of information and data on the topic from academic and customer research.

And one thing became apparent to me very early on: there’s no silver bullet that will make gambling safer.

MAKING GAMBLING SAFER

So what we’re committed to here is investing in data and technology, and developing it, refining our processes and improving our training — so when it all works together, we can better identify and interact early with customers, where possible, to prevent gambling disorders from developing.

We’re creating a culture of testing and learning — dropping what doesn’t work quickly and focussing our efforts on something that does.

A lot of our work is about meeting with other areas of the business and letting them know what we do — and I probably enjoy this the most. Our teams are passionate about Safer Gambling, and it’s because they now understand what we do, and they can see how they can help.

We’re proud of what we do and we want our teams to know this and feel the same way.

We’ve launched our Safer Gambling Governance Board. It’s where our strategy is presented, debated and agreed with members of our leadership team and a panel of external experts.

It’s important that we involve external people because we want to avoid working in our operator ‘bubble’. The views of the outside world matter to us.

I’m really proud of where we’re heading as a business. We’re not perfect, but we’re determined to fill the gaps so we can protect our customers to the best of our abilities.

We have a solid Safer Gambling plan. This website is designed to give us a platform to share some of what we do, and give customers help and advice on how to gamble safely.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the site.

Ben

Hi, I’m Andrew Gibbons, Head of Sponsorship at Sky Betting & Gaming. Since 2018 our Sky Bet brand has sponsored the English Football League (EFL) — and we’re proud to say it’s the first football sponsorship that’s truly put Safer Gambling at its heart.

The relationship between football and gambling is a widely-debated topic. Sky Bet’s activation of the sponsorship, with Safer Gambling at its core, has shown that the two worlds can work hand-in-hand to deliver an important message to players, fans and all of those involved in football.

In August 2018 we launched our first season-long Safer Gambling education scheme, which delivered training to educate players, coaching staff, academies and club staff on the dangers associated with gambling.

The training was put in place as professional sportspeople are six times more likely to suffer from gambling-related harm. Why? Because, in general, they have three key things: time, money and a will to win.

The training, which was delivered by EPIC Risk Management, used former sportspeople who had suffered gambling-related harm to show players the dangers. This was coupled with an internally-developed gambling spectrum to help players and staff understand their gambling in a simple way.

We’re now in the second season of the education sessions where the programme has been developed to focus more on betting integrity and how we, at Sky Betting & Gaming, spot suspicious activity in football. The sessions receive great feedback — from footballers at academy level to those in the first team.

Across our entire EFL inventory, we have focused only on delivering communication that promotes Safer Gambling messages. Across 1,600 matches, we committed our round-the-pitch advertising, goal branding, big screen adverts and programme adverts to promote our ‘Simple Tools’.

Lastly, we’ve donated the sleeve badge that sits on every shirt worn by players in every EFL match to the key message: When the fun stops, stop.

In a series of Q&A sessions, we’ll be asking our colleagues about all things Safer Gambling: why it’s so important to them; what the most important steps so far have been; and what they think the future holds.

In this first edition, we’ve spoken to some members of our Safer Gambling Team working across a variety of departments.

Why is Safer Gambling important to you?

Ed, Senior Data Scientist: Gambling is fun, but it has the potential to cause significant harm. It’s vital that everyone involved in gambling works together to make it as safe as possible.

Fran, Senior Research Analyst: There’s a fine line between enjoyable gambling and harmful gambling. Harm doesn’t just relate to finances and behaviours; it also includes mental states and feelings. Any activity that consumes a person’s life past a point of enjoyment is something that should be taken very seriously. Safer Gambling is more than looking out for unusual behaviours. It requires people from all over the business to bring their thoughts and experiences together to think of creative ways to help keep customers safe, and to consider Safer Gambling in every discussion.

Stacy, Safer Gambling Manager: We provide products and services that are entertaining for millions of people, but they have the potential to cause harm for some. We have a duty to try and minimise this as much as possible.

Jowita, CRM Strategy Manager: As a business, we want to entertain our customers, allow them to enjoy their favourite games or bet on their favourite sport. But we also have a responsibility to create a safe environment for them to do that, and support them when needed.

Ben, Head of Safer Gambling: I think gambling is a fantastically fun and engaging activity in moderation, but one that does need to be controlled. I don’t want to work for a business or in an industry that doesn’t care for its customers. I want to protect them.

Deb, Senior Business Intelligence Analyst: Working in the Risk Department, I’ve become aware of the harm that gambling can cause to the small percentage of customers who develop a gambling disorder — and to their loved ones. I believe we can make a difference for these people while continuing to provide entertainment for everyone who chooses to play with us.

Victoria, Risk & Safer Gambling Training Specialist: Ultimately, we want to do the right thing. When I’ve told people about my job, it’s caused some confusion at first but when I explain our purpose it’s well-received and makes me super proud. Gambling isn’t bad, but like a lot of entertainment pursuits it’s something we need to monitor and make sure we are in control of. Therefore, it’s important that people continue to enjoy gambling safely, and that they are aware of the help we can give them.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest stride SBG or the industry has made in Safer Gambling in recent years?

Ed: We’ve delivered an amazing Profit & Loss tool on Sky Bet, which will have helped thousands of customers to track and budget their gambling a lot better (and easier). Fast withdrawals are another great example, which means players can get their winnings as quickly as possible.

Fran: The mindset around Safer Gambling. I think there’s still a long way to go, but making sure all areas of the business understand the central importance of Safer Gambling will help our products become even safer.

Stacy: Taking a regulatory requirement and turning it into a product with our Profit & Loss tool, and the introduction of Fixed Deposit Limits.

Jowita: Safer Gambling became part of the company strategy. We’ve created a dedicated Safer Gambling Team and have regular conversations on how we can improve our player protection, and how we can encourage them to use our Safer Gambling tools. Also, how we can recognise concerning behaviours better and quicker.

Ben: Moving away from putting the responsibility for managing their behaviour solely on individual customers and taking ownership of the operator’s role in customer protection. While there is more to do, we are driving forward with great improvements to customer protection here at SBG and across the industry.

Deb: We’ve made great improvements in how we use the data available to us on customer behaviour and activity. We’ve used this to improve our monitoring of higher risk behaviours and make changes to our products to make them safer.

Victoria: In the four years I’ve been here, our approach has changed massively. An area that has changed is KAM, previously known as Priority. We have reduced this customer group to a very small number. All customers in this group have to provide source of funds and have regular safer gambling interactions, and the majority of them have Deposit Limits.

What do you think will be the next big thing in Safer Gambling?

Ed: Deposit Limits for all, with affordability checks required to change them.

Fran: Shifting focus towards looking at time on site for gaming products.

Stacy: Affordability, and working to develop a single view of a customer across multiple operators.

Jowita: We regularly discuss customer affordability. We want to make sure each customer has their limit set, and we also want to encourage them to monitor their spending regularly, and we’ll intervene when needed.

Ben: For me, it’s continuing to build a culture of limit usage across our customer base. We’ve made great strides getting customers to use limits of a mandatory and voluntary nature in recent years but there’s more to do. Things like our work on affordability can really help in this area.

Deb: In the future, a single view of a customer across multiple gambling operators would provide everyone with a better understanding, as currently we only see part of the picture. For example, customers self-excluding with another company could be shared to be included in our risk modelling.

Victoria: While it might be biased, the next big thing for me is going to be the Safer Gambling Academy! It’ll provide learning opportunities to the whole business, and allow colleagues to expand their knowledge about Safer Gambling so they can use it in different areas. We want to be industry-leading in Safer Gambling education.