Largest U.S. sportsbooks join forces to tackle problem gambling

Seven
of
the
nation’s
largest
gaming
companies
are
joining
forces
to
create
a
trade
group
to
promote
responsible
gaming,
and
for
the
first
time
ever,
will
share
information
about
problem
gamblers.

The
seven
operators
—


FanDuel,


DraftKings,


BetMGM,


Penn
Entertainment,
Fanatics
Betting
&
Gaming,
Hard
Rock
Digital
and
bet365
—
will
form
the
Responsible
Online
Gaming
Association,
or
ROGA,
the
group
announced
Wednesday.

The
members
account
for
more
than
85%
of
the
legal
online
betting
market
in
the
United
States.
Collectively
they
have
pledged
more
than
$20
million
to
fund
ROGA.

“I’m
incredibly
excited
to
move
this
forward
and
to
really
do
some
impactful
things
and
to
really
expand
the
knowledge
through
the
research
and
to
create
these
evidence-based
best
practices
and
to
really
empower
players
with
information,”
said
Jennifer
Shatley,
executive
director
of
ROGA.

ROGA
members
commit
to
work
together
on
issues
ranging
from
education,
responsible
gaming
best
practices,
conscientious
advertising
and
marketing
across
the
industry.

The
new
group
will
also
create
an
independent
clearinghouse,
or
database,
that
will
allow
them
to
share
key
information
related
to
protection
of
consumers,
though
the
details
on
how
it
would
work
aren’t
yet
clear.

ROGA
says
it
will
create
a
certification
program
to
assess
members’
responsible
gaming
efforts
and
provide
an
incentive
for
operators
to
participate.

The
new
consortium
comes
as
sports
betting,
both
online
and
in
retail
outlets,
has
seen
dramatic
growth
across
the
nation
since
2018.
Thirty-eight
states
and
Washington,
D.C.,
now
offer
legal
sports
wagering.

This
year,
a
record
number
of
Americans
bet
on
the
Super
Bowl.
Online
transactions
totaled
nearly
15,000
per
second,
doubling
last
year’s
peak,
according
to
geolocating
platform

GeoComply.

But
as
gambling
has
become
more
mainstream
—
and
as
advertising
for
sportsbooks
spans
television,
streaming
and
social
feeds
—
so,
too,
have
headlines
involving
betting
scandals
and
sports.

In
recent
days,
Los
Angeles
Dodgers
superstar
Shohei
Ohtani
has
found
himself
at
the
center
of
a
$4
million
betting
scandal
involving
his
interpreter
and
an
illegal
bookie.
Ohtani
insists
he’s
never
bet
on
sports.
The
NBA
is
investigating
Toronto
Raptors
player
Jontay
Porter
for
irregularities
around
wagering.
And
U.S.
Integrity,
a
tech
firm
working
to
combat
illicit
betting
in
college
sports,
flagged
anomalies
around
the
betting
lines
for
Temple
University
men’s
basketball
games.

A
result
of
those
claims:
The
potential
to
provoke
outrage
and
public
criticism
that
could
become
an
inflection
point
for
the
U.S.
gambling
industry.
There’s
also
the
potential
for
gambling’s
explosive
growth
to
undermine
integrity
in
sports
and
entice
bettors
into
addiction.

An
estimated
2
million
U.S.
adults
meet
the
criteria
for
a
severe
gambling
problem,
according
to
the

National
Council
on
Problem
Gambling.
Another
5
million
to
8
million
U.S.
adults
are
considered
to
have
a
mild
or
moderate
gambling
problem.

Problem
gambling
prompted
regulatory
crackdowns
in
Europe
and
especially
in
the
United
Kingdom
over
the
last
couple
years,
impacting
sportsbooks’
profitability
and
changing
the
way
they
conduct
business.

There
has
been
a
concerted
effort
in
the
United
States
for
the
gambling
industry
to
police
itself
and
ward
off
harsher
regulatory
frameworks.

U.S.
Rep.
Paul
Tonko
of
New
York
is
introducing
national
legislation
that
would
crack
down
on
what
he
calls “a
public
health
crisis.”
Tonko’s “Supporting
Affordability
and
Fairness
with
Every
Bet
Act,”
which
he
introduced
last
week,
would
regulate
gambling
advertising,
limit
the
number
and
size
of
deposits,
and
restrict
how
artificial
intelligence
is
deployed
to
acquire
customers.

“Your
going
to
have
a
lot
more
people
saturated
with
this
opportunity,
with
all
these
clever
concepts
of
bonus
bets,
free
bets
and
celebrity
spokespersons,”
Tonko
told
CNBC.

An
influx
of
gamblers
will
result
in
a
dramatic
increase
in
the
number
of
people
struggling
with
addiction,
he
said.

Some
states
have
slapped
operators
with
fines
over
gaming
violations.
In
August,

Maryland
fined
DraftKings
$94,000
for
marketing
to
underage
players.
PrizePicks
reached
a
$15
million
settlement
in
New
York
for
operating
illegally.
In
Indiana,
the
gaming
commission
fined
FanDuel
after
eight
people
used
illegally
obtained
debit
cards
to
fund
their
betting
accounts,
causing “great
harm”
to
partners
on
shared
bank
accounts,
according
to
the

Indiana
Gaming
Commission
Chairman
Milton
Thompson.

Some
gambling
insiders
are
skeptical
of
ROGA,
suspicious
of
what
they
consider
a
marketing
stunt
to
address
a
public
relations
problem.

Caesars,
which
is
noticeably
absent
from
the
group
founding
ROGA,
told
CNBC
it’s
learned
best
practices
from
35
years
grappling
with
responsible
gaming.

“While
we
applaud
all
efforts
to
ensure
online
gaming
is
both
operated
and
marketed
in
a
responsible
manner,
we
are
confident
in
our
[own]
Responsible
Gaming
approach,”
the
company
said
in
a
statement.

Caesars
said
it’s
solely
focused
on
the
21-and-older
crowd
and
does
not
permit
anyone
younger
than
that
to
sign
up
for
a
Caesars
rewards
account,
even
in
states
like
Rhode
Island
or
Kentucky
where
18-year-olds
are
permitted
to
wager.

Many
fantasy
sports
and
social
betting
platforms
that
operate
on
a
sweepstakes
model
permit
players
18
and
older,
and
many
of
Caesars’
competitors
allow
18-and-up
customers
to
play
fantasy
sports.
Some,
too,
allow
sports
betting
in
that
age
group
in
the
few
states
that
permit
it.

But
the
industry
is
working
to
better
insulate
its
youngest
and
most
vulnerable
customers.

The
American
Gaming
Association
launched
last
March
an
agreement
aimed
at
providing

college-aged
students
protections
against
the
marketing
and
advertising
of
sports
betting.

Peter
Jackson,
CEO
of
Flutter,
the
parent
company
of
FanDuel,
said
responsible
gaming
comes
down
to
good
business.
Yet,
he
warns
that
as
legal
operators
come
together
to
improve
responsible
gambling,
the
illegal
marketplace
will
always
be
willing
to
take
wagers
from
problem
gamblers.

“I
urge
the
state
regulators
to
help
us
by
clamping
down
on
some
of
those
black
market
operators,”
Jackson
told
CNBC.