Gauselmann launches safer gambling scheme

Gauselmann UK has launched new standards in player protection with its 360.

The scheme has been developed following close consultation with the Global Gambling Guidance Group (G4) that helps to establish a responsible gambling culture and initiates ways to reduce harm caused by problem gambling.

G4 has a wide-ranging audit that includes a cultural assessment based on interviews with staff working at all levels of the organisation and has been documented in a dedicated Gauselmann UK Action World Programme.

Gauselmann wanted to ensure that the G4 audit was more than a box-ticking exercise and instituted infrastructure to ensure social responsibility is always at the fore in the business, led by an advisory board of senior executives.

The six-person board will set the objectives, establish a method of measuring success, bring new ideas to the table and explore best practice. The plans include the appointment of a customer experience manager who will report directly to the CEO.

Said Sascha Blodau, general manager of Gauselmann UK: “The aim in everything that we do is to be the best and that also extends to delivering the most effective social responsibility undertakings.

“When it comes to protecting the vulnerable and the very small percentage of players who may experience problems from low stake gambling entertainment, you can never do enough – it is a journey without there actually being a final destination.”

Blodau said that the 360 programme had been discussed with trade organisations including BACTA and the Gambling Business Group, the UK’s Gambling Commission and protection organisations GamCare and YGAM. He said that they had been supportive.