Comparing the protections in place for land-based and online customers, Sculpher said: “Land-based casinos have a key advantage and a key disadvantage compared to online properties.

“The key advantage is face-time with customers, but of course the big disadvantage is a less rich set of data about those same players.

“Although it certainly has value, the face-to-face monitoring was never going to be enough, and taking the best learning from the data-driven online approach can improve safeguards for offline players.”

Despite a lack of customer data, Sculpher argued that a change in operator mind-set has improved protection for land-based customers.

He said: “The fact operators genuinely care now, regardless of whether it’s due to fear of regulatory sanctions, is a huge positive.”

Sculpher praised the voluntary Self-Enrolment National Self-Exclusion scheme, launched in 2015, which he said “is a massive leap forward of which the offline industry can be rightly proud.”

Sculpher was speaking to Gambling Insider for its Jan/Feb magazine. Click here to read when available.