ESG
Can ESG turn around negative opinions on the gaming industry? REUBEN PORTANIER SUGGESTS THAT ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (ESG) BE BENEFICIAL FOR THE GAMING SECTOR’S REPUTATION
A reputational challenge In recent years, we have seen an exponential increase in negative public opinion towards the gaming industry. This has not been helped by the political class, who despite voting for their own country-bound licensing systems (and the gaming tax revenues they earn), have increased their pronouncements on the harm that gambling addiction do to society and that the promotion of gambling services entices more people towards gambling who go on to develop problem gambling behaviour. Over five years, the position of law makers on advertising and mass media promotion has shifted from it being a necessary regulatory element to inform the public as to who is licensed in their jurisdiction so as to achieve a high channelization rate, to a situation were promotion in general is something which needs to be curbed and in some jurisdictions even outlawed completely. This has given the rise (at least in Europe) to advertising and sponsorship bans, and bonus scheme limitations amongst other measures. This situation was mainly fuelled by two elements. The first was that the gaming industry itself swamped their markets with
mass media advertising campaigns. In certain jurisdictions these were so ubiquitous they amounted to shooting themselves in the foot. The second was the result of media representation of gaming. The golden rule of a newsroom is that bad news sells, and every story about how gambling addiction ruined the life of an individual or their family, it is framed as a widespread problem, when the reality is that such unfortunate situations represent statistically less than one percent of people who engage in gaming. Regretably, the gaming industry has not done enough to dispel the negativity and promote itself as entertainment industry not vice. Recent examples of excessive advertising such as that seen in Italy, Sweden and the UK have induced social discomfort among non-gamblers (the majority of society) who in turn have brought significant pressure to bear on politicians to act. This has created a tsunami of advertising restrictions which has flowed from one regulated country to another. We have now reached a position where the industry needs to find a solution fast to stop the negative perception becoming worse to a point where public opinion considers gaming not as a form of entertainment, which they may like or dislike, but something
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JULY 2023
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