Last month SMP eGaming revealed its plans for Responsible Gambling Week 2019, getting underway tomorrow, as well as issuing a call for all operators to take a more proactive approach to player protection.
As part of its own plans for the week the online gaming compliance division of SMP Group is unlocking its responsible gambling courses for the entire seven days, as it encourages a global and long lasting impact.
Lauding responsible gambling as “the most important factor for online gambling operators to get right,” the courses cover key jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man, UK, Malta and Sweden.
Addressing the RG Week initiative and briefly touching upon the groups own support, Jade Zorab, director of SMP eGaming, explained: “As an industry, we need to take steps to improve standards and encourage greater player protection measures. Responsible Gambling Week plays a huge part in achieving this as the whole industry comes together to share ideas, promote safer gambling and encourage socially responsible gaming practices.
“At SMP, player protection is of paramount importance to us, so we are keen to support RG week and play a part in spreading the message. We want to raise awareness for our clients, their staff, and the wider public too. By taking these courses, we can educate our clients so that they can spread the message far and wide as well.”
Courses unlocked during the week will provide organisations with training for their entire workforce across areas such as social responsibility, protecting minors and gambling management tools.
“We have unlocked our courses to make them accessible to everyone as we want to encourage to operators to learn best practices and roll them out across their organisation in the easiest way possible,” she says.
“Our overarching aim was to encourage conversations about responsible gambling and best practices within the industry”
“We are committed to helping improve industry standards and encouraging a more proactive approach to player protection worldwide. To achieve this, responsible gambling needs to be embraced by all members of the industry no matter their size, scale or sector.
“We believe eLearning solutions are one of the most effective ways to spread this vital message and deliver it to whole organisations so that everyone can learn and play their part.”
Furthermore, SMP eGaming is to also provide guidance on how operators should assist problem gamblers, as well as the various jurisdictional authority requirements which can help them take steps towards a more robust responsible gambling framework.
Zorab added on what operators and suppliers can expect upon accessing the courses: “Our courses are written by experts and are based on the latest legislation and social responsibility guidelines for the most up-to-date information.
“The courses are delivered via our SMPCA platform, so users can expect engaging and informative courses, in-depth reviews, plus real-world examples to demonstrate how these measures can be applied to their own organisation.
“From a content perspective, the courses cover the vital skills required to protect consumers and operate a compliant and socially responsible gaming business in this day and age.
“We also provide multi-jurisdictional courses as we understand that different countries have different requirements when it comes to responsible gambling measures, so our content will help educate users on what is required in each market.
“The UK, Isle of Man, Malta, and Sweden are all covered, with our Swedish content written by Nordic Gambling to cater to the Swedish market in light of the Swedish Gambling Act 2018 coming into force this year. The courses include guidance on different gambler profiles, responsible gambling policies to implement, and advice on protecting minors.
“We want people to share ideas about best practices they have found that meet regulations”
“The training also teaches them how to recognise the signs of problem gambling, why operators should assist problem gamblers, and the various social responsibility requirements which can help users take steps towards developing a more robust responsible gambling framework.”
Concluding: “These courses were created because we believe that these practices need to be embedded within an organisation’s day-to-day activities, and eLearning is the best way to do this at scale.
“We wanted to provide something that is comprehensive and in-depth so that users can find out more about the vital requirements. The courses themselves have been designed to provide all the information and support that users need while still being easy to access and digest.
“Our overarching aim was to encourage conversations about responsible gambling and best practices within the industry. We want people to be able to feel comfortable knowing how to identify problem gamblers and measures they can take to assist them.
“We want people to share ideas about best practices they have found that meet regulations. Above all, we want to create a discussion about safer and fairer gambling across the industry to make it a more accepted topic of conversation.”
