The case in question saw customer Chris Bruney take his own life and leave a suicide note attributing his decision to problem gambling. Instead of intervening at any point, however, PT Entertainment Services allowed Bruney to deposit vast sums, encouraging him with further bonuses as he lost £119,000 in the five days leading up to his death.
The example showed that, despite much technological advancement within the field of responsible gambling, the industry can never truly progress in this area without a genuine change in mentality.
For Perrin Carey, former chief risk and compliance officer at Stride Gaming and a compliance professional with over 15 years in the field, this means a shift in focus towards risk management. Gambling Insider caught up with Carey to discuss one of the most important issues facing the gambling industry.
Carey explained: "We talk in this industry about social responsibility. And I’ve thought long and hard about what that actually means, and whether or not it actually drives change.
"My personal opinion is that it probably doesn’t; it doesn’t come at this issue from the right angle. My view is the angle this should be coming from is absolutely from a risk management perspective.
"This isn’t about carrying out social responsibilities; this is fundamentally an ethical, moral and risk management-orientated issue.
"Organisations across different industries have to consider not only the risks their customers pose to them – AML (anti money laundering), CFT (combating the financing of terrorism) – there is a stack of risks that go back in the other direction."
Carey spoke exclusively with Gambling Insider at length on the issue of problem gambling and organisational culture. You can read the full interview in the July/August edition of Gambling Insider magazine.
