RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING
of the gambling market sector (supervisory authorities, organizers of gambling, players, etc.) aimed at protecting the public and individual interests, including preventing and minimizing the negative effects of participating in gambling. The above elements are commonly included in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies of gambling operators showing their willingness to consider the protection of public and individual interests as well as profit maximization. EU laws and regulations do not directly impinge on gambling activity in a direct or specific way, especially when it comes to responsible gambling. EU regulators have, for several years considered only online gambling. 2 The most significant act is the Commission Recommendation 2014/478/EU of 14 July 2014 (the Recommendation) on principles for the protection of consumers and players of online gambling services and for the prevention of minors from gambling online 3 . The focus on online gambling is understandable, as the size of online gambling annual GGR in the EU and UK has growing sharply making it a more significant consumer protection concern. The Recommendation contains a number of guidelines for member countries involving the implementation of specific obligations on entities organizing gambling games. These include among others: • the obligation to properly inform authorities about their activities;
• interventions with players when their gambling behavior indicates a risk of developing a gambling disorder; • mechanisms to facilitate game breaks and self-exclusion. Responsible gambling rules in Poland The Recommendation was implemented into the Polish Gambling Act in December 2016 which, among other things, obliged all the entities organizing gambling to implement and comply with the responsible gambling regulations. As was stated in the justification of the project of Act’s amendments which accompanied the Act, the aim of the new regulations is to ensure the highest possible level of protection of citizens, including minors, against the harmful effects of gambling related to playing slot machines and playing on the Internet. It was also highlighted that the new law created a legal environment that enables citizens to participate in gambling, but also contained protective elements against addiction and ensuring the proper functioning of games. This justification was reflected in art. 15 sect. 1d of the Gambling Act and it fulfills the Commission Recommendation. Detailed research into the functioning of responsible gambling regulations has been conducted by four major Polish betting operators and one Polish operator of legal online casino. This shows that all the entities have implemented the regulations in a very similar way (for example, banners on the websites informing visitors of the ban on gambling by minors under 18-years old). Some differences can be observed in the way information related to gambling risk is presented (only two entities describe this risk in great detail, while the others generally indicate only the risk of gambling and addiction). As a standard, all betting operators distinguish between two client accounts (temporary/permanent), while in an online casino it is possible to set up only a permanent account. Interestingly, the self-control mechanisms which have been implemented are the same for all entities, differing only in the amounts of acceptable limits (daily game time limits range from 12 to 18 hours, monthly game time limits can be set from 300 to 558 hours; daily game wager limits range from 100,000
• the exclusion of minors from gambling games; • the rollout of transparent register procedures;
• the possibility for players to set time and deposit limits at the registration stage; the implementation of mechanisms giving regular warnings of wins and losses and time spent playing; • limitations on deposit limits (at least 24 hours after submitting the application); • mechanisms to monitor player activity;
2 European Parliament Resolution of 10 March 2009 on the integrity of online gambling (2008/2215 (INI)); Green Paper On on-line gambling in the Internal Market COM(2011) 128 final; European Parliament resolution of 10 September 2013 on online gambling in the internal market (2012/2322(INI)). 3 OJ L 214 of 19.7.2014, p. 38-46
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JULY 2023
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