• The RGW’s strapline is ‘Let’s talk about safer gambling’
• Over 120,000 staff members from a majority of operators will be joining
• The goal is to establish better social responsibility practices in the sector

With less than a week to go, the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling has outlined its plans for the Responsible Gambling Week starting on October 7 and running through October 13.

Responsible Gambling Week 2019 Preparations Unfolding in Full

The Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG) has published its plans for the upcoming Responsible Gambling Week 2019, an expo focusing on boosting awareness for safer gambling practices and protecting customers from coming to harm.

The event will be attended by a number of leading operators, developers and organizations interested in helping gambling addicts and create preventive measures. The expo will be held on November 7 through November 13 and it will involve over 120,000 staff members from various online and brick-and-mortar gambling companies in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Anyone, from online customer support agents to operators of pub and bar gaming venues, will have representatives at the expo who will be able to learn how to keep their patrons away from harm’s way.

To boost its efforts, the IGRG will be joining the Irish Bookmakers Association as partners for the event. The latter will be in charge for the organization of the initiative in Ireland. The key objective is to promote socially responsible gambling practices.

Teaching Staff to Spot the Signs

IGRG will educate staff how to spot the signs of unhealthy gambling addiction, such as prolonged times of play. The organization will also train people to know how to approach likely gambling addicts and talk to them.

Furthermore, as part of Responsible Gambling Week 2019, prominent messages will be displayed at all operators to remind patrons that gambling is supposed to be fun, not an addiction or a career choice. The event will also feature fundraisers, additional trainings and discussions about boosting social responsibility across the board.

Meanwhile, all participating operators will focus on advertising social responsibility online to their customers with pop-up windows that will continually remind players of the risks of gambling as well as offer encouraging messages and contact information where individuals can get help.

ResponsibleGambling.co.uk is building a new information hub where operators can download useful materials that would help them assist problem gamblers get help. There are a number of prominent organizations that are joining. SkyBet is back again and so is Scientific Games.

IGRG Chairman John Hagan commented that the organization was now focusing on creating an inclusive strategy that would hopefully lead to better yields:

We want to take the message about safer gambling even further this year, through our own social channels, with the support of our partners inside the industry and beyond.

The initiative was similarly supported by UK Gambling Commission head Neil McArthur who emphasized the tagline of the initiative – ‘Let’s talk about safer gambling‘ – and argued that the role of everyone involved in the industry is to look out for the well-being of the customer.

The Responsible Gambling Week starts on Monday, November 7. A similar initiative was held in the United States between September 15 and September 21.