Towards a Systems-Based Responsible Gambling Approach to Mitigating Harmful Gambling: Delineating Industry’s Role in Gambling Safety

Abstract

Since the publication of the Reno Model in 2004, stakeholders have grappled with the best way to promote responsible gambling and its essential features. While the Reno Model prescribed a broad set of interacting goals and activities across multiple stakeholders, to date, an in-depth consideration of the specialized role of gambling-industry businesses in promoting responsible gambling remains to be realized. This type of deep dive into industry-oriented responsible gambling is important to accomplish because the gambling industry has unique responsibilities for developing safer gambling environments. Therefore, this position paper provides a strategic framework that describes principles and practices to guide gambling-industry businesses in the implementation of contemporary systems-based responsible gambling initiatives. The foundational systems-based responsible gambling approach sets forth responsible gambling principles for core gambling-industry business units including customer experience, public messaging, data science, game development, regulatory affairs, and the executive level, as well as five main practices to be applied to each business unit: evaluation, research, needs assessment, needs-based training, and technical assistance. This approach is flexible and can be adjusted to reflect different organizations’ unique structures and needs.