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A STILL FROM ONE OF THE SENET GROUP’S BAD BETTY TV SPOTS
TV campaign kicks off responsible gambling initiatives
ITALY
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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hit Black Betty by Ram Jam, only changing the lyrics to ‘bad betty’. The campaign is running across TV, radio, newspaper and online with an audience reach of 9.7m. Advertising slots will include the commercial breaks around major televised sporting fixtures. Ron Finlay, interim chief executive of the Senet Group, said: “The vast majority of people who gamble enjoy it responsibly and safely. But some can slide into problem gambling. Our campaign highlights some of the warning signs and provides independent sources of advice for those who feel their gambling is getting out of control.” The last week in January also saw UK’s high street betting shops taking part in the new ‘GambleAware Week’, which has been designed to educate customers about the tools available to help them stay in
n a very rare occurrence, European bookmaker Stanleybet has been unsuccessful in its challenge to Italian betting laws after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the country’s lawmakers were within their rights to offer shorterterm new licences. Stanleybet argued that it had been excluded from previous tenders in 1999 and 2006, which offered licence lengths of between nine and twelve years, and that the new 2012 tenders only last 40 months. The bookmaker pointed out that the length and other restrictive conditions on the 2012 tenders meant that it could not participate effectively in the market, especially when combined with the penalties associated with the grounds for revocation, suspension and withdrawal of licences. However, the CJEU said that new shorter licences were perfectly acceptable if the regulator was attempting the alignment of licence expiry dates. The decision added: “The Court notes that existing licensees enjoy an unfair competitive advantage, in that they were able to commence their activities years before the operators which were unlawfully excluded; however, those existing licensees do not have ‘even greater’ competitive advantages, since the provisions at issue also apply to them. “In addition, the Stanley companies cannot be truly described as ‘new entrants on the market’ since, even without licence or authorisation, they have been operating in Italy for approximately fifteen years. Moreover, even if the new licences have a shorter period of validity, they are less onerous and less economically restrictive.” Stanley International told Bloomberg in a statement that while the court ruled in Italy’s favour on the length of licences, the judges ignored other parts of the lawsuit, including Italy’s obligation to adjust to previous rulings from the court.
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Bookmakers are making a big push to educate their customers and the wider public about problem gambling and how to tackle it.
he UK betting industry has launched a series of high profile initiatives in a bid to underline its social responsibility credentials ahead of this May’s General Election. The gambling industry is in danger of becoming a hot potato as politicians fight for votes, so bookmakers are understandably keen to defend their problem gambling credentials early. The biggest development is probably the official launch of the TV campaign by the Senet Group, the new ‘gambling watchdog’ set up by William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Paddy Power. The ads, which have been widely well received, feature a young customer in a betting shop and a guy betting online at home with advice to players not to bet if they can’t afford it or if they are angry and frustrated. The ads use the 1970s’
CJEU has no problems with Italy’s shorter licences
control and includes measures to increase the number of players setting voluntary limits on gaming machines. It coincided with the launch of new machine rules making it compulsory for players to actively choose whether to set a limit before they start each machine session. Across the country, Britain’s bookmakers put up window posters and leaflets in their shops to encourage all customers to only bet what they can afford to lose. Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) chair Paul Darling QC said: “GambleAware Week marks the latest step in the industry’s approach to responsible gambling. We are absolutely committed to addressing public concern and doing everything we can to better protect our customers. In recent months, we’ve made a number of changes, on the basis of evi-
dence, to significantly improve player protection. However, we remain determined to do more and will continue to work with all interested parties in order to build on the measures already taken.” The Senet Group has also finalised its make-up with Wanda Goldwag, an expert on regulation, human resources and entrepreneurial businesses, installed as chair and Independent Standards Commissioner. Suzanne McCarthy, the UK’s Immigration Services Commissioner, and Gillian Wilmot, founder of Board Mentoring, have been appointed as independent directors, while William Hill’s corporate affairs director David Steele and Gala Coral’s director of corporate affairs Fiona Thorne have been appointed as industry directors. COMMENT 58
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