Responsible Gaming Education Month (RGEM), held annually throughout the month of September, marks an important moment for our industry to reflect on our work to promote and maintain a safe, informed gaming environment across the country. This year, we saw the industry come together like never before to promote gaming literacy and consumer education, elevate employee training, and advance our understanding of responsible gambling through research.
These efforts represent our industry’s deep commitment to responsibility and make up the foundation of what’s next in responsible gaming.
Let’s take a look at this year’s highlights.
Spreading Awareness
Throughout September, we saw AGA members and the broader industry advance consumer awareness of responsible gaming tools and tactics. Through new announcements, social media activations, partnerships, ad campaigns and more, organizations found impactful and creative ways to educate their customers.
MGM Resorts and BetMGM announced they will be increasing responsible wagering messaging in NFL stadiums this season through their GameSense program; Bally’s founded a three-year partnership to promote RG practices with EPIC Global Solutions; and sports leagues activated AGA’s Have A Game Plan.® Bet Responsibly.™ campaign on social media—like the PGA TOUR, which brought “Sam the Responsible Gaming Caddie” to life.
These education efforts extended to employees as well, with companies like FanDuel putting on its third-annual Play Well Day and Las Vegas Sands conducting a global campaign aimed at bolstering employee awareness of responsible gaming tools and messaging.
The AGA also hosted “Betting on the Future of U.S. Gaming,” an event that brought together key industry and D.C. leaders to discuss how the industry is scaling responsible gaming initiatives in tandem with industry growth—including DraftKings’ Lori Kalani and MGM National Harbor’s Melonie Johnson sharing valuable examples of how their companies are driving responsible gaming with their customers every day.
Advancing Research
Investing in research to better understand responsible gaming is a key pillar of our industry’s efforts. To that end, the AGA released a first-of-its-kind Responsible Gaming Intervention Effectiveness Scale. Developed by Drs. Jonathan Ross Gilbert and Marla Stafford, the scale will provide academics, industry members and other stakeholders with a new, research-based tool they can use to evaluate which responsible gaming messages are most effective—a critical step to strengthening our educational impact throughout the year.
Investing in the Future
New AGA research shows that the legal gaming industry is investing $472 million annually to promote responsible gaming, with several key areas seeing significant spending commitments as the industry expands:
- Customer Service Interactions: $135.4 million.
- Developing and Maintaining Responsible Gaming Programs: $122.4 million.
- Consumer-Facing Responsible Gaming Education: $107.7 million.
- Problem Gambling Supportive Services: $26.1 million.
- Responsible Gaming and Problem Gambling Research: $9.4 million.
Up from approximately $275 million in RG spending in 2017 (+72 percent), the research confirms what we already know: our investments in responsibility are growing even faster than our industry itself.
As we close out RGEM, we should be proud of these efforts and further inspired to grow our work in the year to come. The AGA extends its gratitude to the entire industry for making this year’s RGEM another resounding success.
