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DD: Agreed and that really clarifies the difference. We’re educating people so they know that the only products that are allowed are those authorized by a particular jurisdiction. The enforcement piece is difficult, because gaming regulatory authorities have limited resources. They can go and try to shut establishments down but it also depends on the priorities of law enforcement or other agencies or tax authorities. There are a lot of public policy issues, and gaming is not always high on the priority list and it’s maybe not as easy to prosecute those things as it is where there is an obvious public harm aspect. Bringing those cases takes a lot of time and energy. We look at how we can support law enforcement agencies and provide information as best we can. SP: You have substantial experience in this industry as a legal practitioner and now with AGEM. When you look back, how have you seen Responsible Gaming evolve in the gaming machine sector? DD: I think a good place to start is the record we have as an industry for being responsible partners. To the point where we’re no longer viewed as a problem when we talk about Responsible Gambling. There’s a much more widely held view that we’re talking about something that is a legitimate adult leisure activity with some safeguards and protections so that people can enjoy it responsibly. It is no longer seen as a public harm that needs to be immediately addressed. So I think that we’ve done a very good job over the last couple of decades showing that we care about that. As an industry we have funded research to inform in an objective fashion, how we can be better? Rather than rely on anecdotes we have tried to prove those things out looking at say the incidence of problem gambling and the factors that increase levels and how to bring them down. It’s about how to facilitate the activity in a responsible way. RG has been a major focus of AGEM over the years. We have a dedicated Responsible Gaming director and we dedicate 20 percent of our budget to RG initiatives. So as an industry, we have put our money where our mouth is. We don’t hide away from problem gambling we want to be part of the solution and we actually do support measures to keep people playing safely. SP: We have seen approaches to RG change especially in Europe where we have gone from a model where gambling was
essentially a consumer choice and to make that choice they needed free and honest information about the product. Now the onus is on operators to be responsible not for consumers to take responsibility. I get the impression it’s different in North America but I’d be interested in your perspective. DD: I think we are still closer to your original model in North America. People have to have know the rules, there are some safeguards in place, and there are some off ramps if they need them with support and resources. I think what’s also happened is that gaming has become much more critical to the public treasury. It supports education, it supports infrastructure with billions of dollars. So I think the emphasis is less on preventing people from taking part in this activity that we’ve authorized and more on providing ways for them to do so in a responsible manner. That’s where the size and the scale of that unregulated black market is an issue that we can all point to. By making it more difficult and preventing people who wish to take part in this authorized, regulated activity, we’re pushing them to into the unregulated market where there are no protections and at the same time, there’s no public benefit because it’s not contributing to the public treasury. SP: Over the last few years the focus has been increasingly on iGaming. This has been the growth sector. How relevant are slots still to the industry and how can the supply side to the industry help the broader industry achieve its goals? DD: For AGEM, this is one of our key messages. First, as I said, we are digital as well as land based and our side of the industry is growing too. We’re providing many thousands of high-quality jobs, technology jobs. So when the broader industry tries to talk to governments or to the public, don’t forget about us, because we are a growing segment that makes a significant economic contribution. We are additive, and complementary to all the things that you’re doing out there.
[economic impact study]
The data show there’s real, direct and indirect economic impact from the supplier side. So that’s what I think the message of
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JUNE 2025
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