The Takeaway: Flood The Zone With Good Responsible Gaming News
TCL will offer analysis in the US gambling space in The Takeaway every Thursday.
Every day I get a new Google News alert telling me that sports betting is going to cause the end of civilization as we know it. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much.
Here’s my podcast on a dumb column by former presidential candidate Andrew Yang who wants to stop legal sports betting (please don’t oblige Newsweek with more clicks of the bait.) And here is one from today linking sports betting to “financial woes;” while a negative piece, it’s at least more balanced.
The flood of negative news I see in the mainstream continues the idea legal sports betting has a PR problem. But today, at least, I was happy to see the American Gaming Association taking up the fight proactively, alongside sports leagues and sportsbooks. Some highlights from the presser:
The American Gaming Association (AGA) today announced the expansion of its Have A Game Plan.® Bet Responsibly.™ public service campaign with the introduction of a fifth pillar: “Keep Your Cool.” This new pillar reinforces the campaign’s mission to promote responsible sports wagering by emphasizing athlete harassment is never appropriate. …
The new “Keep Your Cool” pillar complements these principles by promoting sportsmanship and emphasizing the social aspects of sports betting:
Respect the Game: Winning and losing are part of sports betting, nobody is perfect; the result of a bet should not prompt negative actions – in person or online – towards athletes and officials.
Stay Focused on Having Fun: Sports betting is entertainment.
Closing Line Consulting
Need help with gambling content, navigating the North American gaming industry, communications/PR, or research and analysis? I have a consultancy to help in gaming and beyond. Learn more about CLC here.
One of the few ways the sports betting industry can start pushing back at the narrative, even incrementally, is to continue to push what it’s doing that’s good rather than reacting to negative news. At the risk of giving the AGA too glowing of a review, this is just good PR. “Hey, did you know we have a public service campaign we do on responsible sports betting? And, by the way, we have some news because we’re adding to it!”
Even if you think it’s not enough or perhaps not big enough of a splash, you have to start somewhere. And the industry should attempt to flood the zone with good PR and policies and initiatives that push things forward that help on this front.
Some good things out there that should be highlighted more:
Underdog’s Responsible Gaming Innovation Fund, called Guard Dog, is a tremendous effort that looks to fund companies in the space.
The Responsible Online Gaming Association exists, but I am not sure it’s moved the needle since it launched earlier this year.
The National Council on Problem Gambling is a fair organization that does lots of good work, and generally advocates for what many would agree is good policy on sports betting. The industry should continue to highlight what they say and their mission.
Other things that would be great to see:
While state lawmakers are looking at going back into sports betting laws, operators should suggest more funding for and/or regulations around responsible and problem gaming. It would show they’re serious about what many people perceive as a problem, beyond lip service.
There are people who genuinely care about responsible gaming — especially some that work for sportsbooks themselves — whose voices we should hear from more. Maybe I am naive, but I really don’t believe sportsbooks are monoliths looking to ruin people’s lives.
Put the leagues front and center more in these efforts. NASCAR was quoted in the press release. We have all seen the responsible gambling commercials on NFL games. The leagues being the most vocal advocates for RG is good for them, good for the sports betting business and is good PR.
If the sports betting industry wants to get out from under the negative narrative surrounding it — or at least mitigate it — it has to keep hammering away with PR like the AGA’s effort today. Being proactive > being reactive.
Closing Line Consulting
For sponsorship inquiries, email dustin@closinglineconsulting.com.
