Canada
New Approaches to Mitigating High-Risk Play: Responsible Marketing
Guardrails are often put in place to keep people within safe boundaries and to prevent harm. Can the notion of player-health ‘guardrails’ help evolve how gambling products are marketed to mitigate high-risk play and improve player-health outcomes?
Three panellists recently joined Dr. Jamie Wiebe, BCLC’s Director of Player Health, to examine this question during BCLC’s New Horizons in Responsible Gambling pre-conference session, Responsible Marketing: Establishing “Guardrails” for Safer Play.
Panellist Floris van Driel, Nederlandse Loterij Responsible Gaming Specialist for Sports Betting and Casino, shared Nederlandse Loterij’s approach to integrating responsible marketing into online gambling, which became legal in the Netherlands on October 1, 2021.Â
The Nederlandse Loterij team scores and advertises each game by risk level. Games rated with a very high-risk score are not promoted at all in television or social media advertising and similarly, high-risk players are excluded from receiving any marketing materials. Additionally, van Driel’s team looks at player behaviour and classifies players into different risk categories to better understand how to market games to each segmented group.
“We are looking at high-risk players, and the types of games they prefer, to understand if we should be more restrained when promoting these types of games,” van Driel explained during the New Horizons session. “It’s really about using specific customer data to customize the campaigns to mitigate risk along with utilizing marketing tools to stimulate people to moderate their gameplay.”
Part of Nederlandse Loterij’s new marketing strategy entails reframing the tone of their player health advertising, reflecting a more fun, light-hearted approach. Its recent TOTO campaign promoting responsible participation in online sports betting was recognized as the Safer Gambling Campaign of the Year at the 2021 Global Regulatory Awards.
“We are finding that keeping it lighter and more fun ties in better with the tone of the other communication that we give to the player. The intention is to make it easier for players to accept the message and to get player health behaviour normalized.” The campaign resulted in a very positive behavioural change: 82 per cent of players thought that the tips were very useful, and 44 per cent considered changing their behaviour.
Ryan Persaud, Director of Insights and Player Experience at BCLC outlined the organization’s integration of marketing guardrails operationally. In 2021, BCLC completed a study whereby it included Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) scores with online customers, connecting survey results with actual behaviour.
“It allowed us to understand: How do [players’] personal stated risks relate to their behaviour? We used that information to help us craft what we are calling…high-risk indicators,” said Persaud.
BCLC is building on these findings to develop high-risk indicators centred around variables such as deviation, deposits, wagering, time and player-health risk alerts.
“At BCLC we are focusing on the player side of assessing risk and using high-risk indicators to dig into the behavioural components as opposed to just the product risks,” Persaud explained. “This player-health data is being used to better inform the conversations we’re having around marketing.”
Finally, Richard Wood, President, GamRes Limited, outlined during the discussion that in order to responsibly market a product, it’s important to identify and understand the impacts and unintended potential risks for each player. Wood and the GamRes team created Gamgard, a game risk-assessment product used to help prevent high-risk play, while also supporting operators in their end game: to deliver a fun, interesting product.
“With Gamgard, jurisdictions are able to identify high-risk elements and then choose to either not advertise the game at all to high-risk players or to use the data to integrate player health guardrails into their marketing approaches,” Wood explained.
Wiebe concluded the session by asking each panellist to look forward 10 years and share their perspective on gambling marketing:
“Focusing on integrating more fun and entertaining player-health messaging into the marketing experience will help to mitigate risk,” Wood said. “We’ve found that the most responsible players are the most satisfied players… so player health and marketing aren’t polar opposites; at the end of the day, they have a similar goal of ensuring that players have a good healthy experience.”
Hosted by BCLC, the full New Horizons in Responsible Gambling Conference is celebrating 10 years of industry leadership and bringing together hundreds of industry-leading researchers, policymakers and representatives from around the world to tackle some of the most challenging topics related to gambling and player health. The conference will occur virtually in early March 2022.
BetVictor Canada has launched its new out-of-home advertising campaign across the streets of Toronto to promote NBA legend Tracy McGrady as its Safer Gambling Ambassador.
Two mobile digital trucks strategically targeting high-traffic areas near Scotiabank Arena, Rogers Centre, and major sporting events will provide prime audience exposure for the campaign, scheduled around Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, and Toronto Blue Jays home games.
To further enhance the campaignâs reach, BetVictor Canada has partnered with Clear Media Group to leverage digital taxi tops across Toronto, providing city-wide exposure with 100 taxis displaying key brand messaging. These digital taxi tops will run during peak evening hours (5:00pm â 9:00pm) on select dates until April 5th, 2025.
The campaign coincides with Problem Gambling Awareness Month, a nationwide grassroots campaign held each March that seeks to increase public awareness of problem gambling and promote prevention, treatment, and recovery services.
BetVictor Canada offers an array of tools and services to help its Canadian customers bet and play safely and responsibly, across a host of sports betting markets and online casino games.
Mark Harper, Head of Emerging Markets at BV Group, said: âBetVictor is delighted to be participating in the National Council of Problem Gambling campaign in March, to help increase public awareness of problem gambling and the need to promote prevention, treatment and recovery services.
âIn using our Safer Gambling Ambassador, Tracy McGrady, to raise awareness about BetVictor’s safer gambling tools such as loss limits, time alerts and product restrictions we are dedicated to ensuring all players have a safe gambling experience. #PGAM2025.â
Canada
AGCO issues $110,000 in penalties to BetMGM Canada for offering cash to induce new gambling customers
The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has served BetMGM Canada Inc. with an Order of Monetary Penalty (OMP) of $110,000 for violations of the Registrarâs Standards for Internet Gaming.
In two separate incidents in 2024, BetMGM engaged marketing companies who offered cash to members of the public in return for opening new BetMGM accounts. The marketing activities occurred in public forums, such as a major national trade conference. Under AGCOâs Standards, operators are responsible for the conduct of their third-party suppliers who are contracted to support the operator’s Ontario gaming business, and must require their third-parties to meet Ontario laws, regulations and standards (Standard 1.19).
Ontario is one of the first jurisdictions in the world to establish and enforce rules that strictly limit high-risk inducement advertising and marketing in the online gambling industry. Registered iGaming operators are prohibited from offering gambling inducements, bonuses and credits as part of their broad public advertising and marketing activities (Standard 2.05). These Standards exist to protect Ontarians from predatory advertising and promotional marketing practices in order to limit the risk of gambling-related harm.
A registered operator served with an OMP by the AGCO has the right to appeal the Registrarâs decision to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), which is an adjudicative tribunal independent of the AGCO and part of Tribunals Ontario.
QUOTE
âResponsible gambling safeguards and the protection of Ontarians on registered gaming sites is among our key priorities. The AGCO monitors the activities of all registered operators and their third-party suppliers to ensure they are meeting our high standards and we continue to take strong action to ensure they operate within the public interest.â
Dr. Karin Schnarr, Chief Executive Officer and Registrar â AGCO
ADDITIONALÂ INFORMATION
BetMGM Canada Inc. failed to comply with the Registrarâs Standards for Internet Gaming. Specifically, the licensee failed to comply with the following provisions of the Standards:
- 1.19 Operators are responsible for the actions of third parties with whom they contract for the provision of any aspect of the Operatorâs business related to gaming in Ontario and must require the third party to conduct themselves in so far as they carry out activities on behalf of the operator as if they were bound by the same laws, regulations, and standards.
- 2.05 Advertising and marketing materials that communicate gambling inducements, bonuses and credits are prohibited, except on an operator’s gaming site and through direct advertising and marketing, after receiving active player consent.
Contrary to the Standards, BetMGM Canada Inc. and/or their affiliates allegedly engaged in the following activities:
| a) | On or about January 13 and 14, 2024, BetMGM representatives were alleged to have attended the National Franchise Show and were offering $100 in cash to new players for opening a new account and depositing $15. |
| b) | On or about March 11, 2024, BetMGM acknowledged that its marketing affiliate âAbove the Streetâ had engaged in prohibited inducement marketing. The conduct resulted in 377 player sign-ups and $127,180.00 in commissions to “Above the Streetâ. |
| c) | On or about April 13, 2024, another BetMGM marketing affiliate âMaple Leaf Marketingâ engaged in prohibited inducements and marketing to induce on-site activations and acquire new players. The conduct resulted in 94 player sign-ups and about $34,000.00 in commissions paid to âMaple Leaf Marketingâ. |
BCLCâs new âWhatâs played here stays hereâ campaign is issuing an important reminder to British Columbians who choose to gamble â specifically that all net profit its operations generate stays in B.C. to help fund critical services like education, health care and community programs.
The campaign also reinforces that all other gambling websites operating in B.C. are illegal and take away funds from critical community programs and services.
âAcross B.C. and Canada, weâve seen incredible groundswell around the importance of buying and supporting local, and thatâs no different for British Columbians who choose gambling for their entertainment. We want our B.C. players to know they can find a world-class gambling experience in their own backyard, whether itâs at one of our 33 casinos, 3,400 lottery retailers, or online at PlayNow.com, and that the proceeds from their play with BCLC make a positive impact at home in their community,â Pat Davis, President and CEO of BCLC, said.
Along with illegal online gambling websites, BCLC also competes with Washington State and Las Vegas casinos, all of which aggressively market to B.C. residents.
âBCLC continues to raise awareness that these gambling options do not support B.C.âs economy and take away funds from vital provincial and community-based programs and services. In a time when British Columbians are standing united, we want to reinforce that playing together with BCLC helps make B.C. even better,â Pat Davis added.
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