5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This paper has shown that it is crucial for sports and esports organisations to ensure safer gambling education is provided to their players, those closest to them, staff members and fans. Having a gambling problem can have a knock-on effect, starting with a decline in an individual’s mental health and performance, financial losses for the individual and the club due to reputational and brand damage, through to the threat of a potential prosecution due to breaching sporting integrity. Guidance on how sports and esports organisations can approach mitigating the risks of developing problem gambling and the provision of safer gambling has been provided. For both, sports and esports, this is as follows:
1. Safer gambling needs to be part of the embedded culture of every sports club, not just a box-ticking annual exercise, meaning that senior leaders of sports organisations – including the sports executives and owners – should be involved in the education, in order to imbue that commitment to developing a safer gambling culture. There is a need for constant interaction from the youngest groups upwards, and with all playing and staff members. It is crucial to provide education extending wider than just the athletes, coaches and support staff, with parents highlighted as the most influential group on a player and match officials to wider safeguard the integrity of the sports industry.
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