Responsible Gambling Awareness Day

October 20, 2009 | News Category: Online Casinos

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Gambling institutions, both online and land-based, acknowledged and supported the Responsible Gambling Awareness Day, which coincided with GamCare’s Annual Conference on Monday 19th October, in London.

The Responsible Gambling Awareness Day is an initiative of the gambling industry. The idea of the day is simply to encourage sensible gambling, to help prevent gambling problems before they start, and to help raise funds for organizations that work towards helping to combat gambling problems. It also helps to create an awareness of what help is available for those who need it, and to let people know how to find this help.

The chief industry representative for European online casinos, the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has begun to distribute a video to coincide with the Responsible Gambling Awareness Day. The video was created to show how the Internet gambling industry act in such a way as to protect their players.

The video covers aspects such as how the industry works to identify and block underage would-be gamblers, how the industry protects private information of their patrons, and of course, how they work towards protecting against problem gambling.

The Chief Executive Officer of the RGA, Clive Hawkswood, said, “We hope our five minute tutorial will provide (lawmakers) with a quick insight into how operators ensure that for the vast majority, gambling remains a safe and harmless leisure activity.”

Since Hawkswood has held the role of CEO of the RGA, he has often referred to the importance of educating both legislators and the general public regarding the efforts made by the online gambling industry to combat problem gambling. He feels that educating legislators and the general public, as well as maintaining protective programs at online casinos are both vital when it comes to online gambling problems.

To mark the day, the RGA also made a donation to Gambling Therapy, the first service for international online help for compulsive gamblers, of $16,000.

Many other Internet gambling operators helped to highlight the importance of the day and showed their support for Responsible Gambling Awareness Day.

Another gambling awareness initiative this month took place in Canada. In Nova Scotia, Canada, the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation held their eighth annual Responsible Gambling Awareness Week earlier this month, between the 4th and 10th October. As with other responsible gambling initiatives, the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation provide information needed, for those who wish to gamble, in order to make informed decisions regarding their gambling activities.