## Safer Gambling Week: A US Perspective – Problem Gambling – iGB

While UK gambling firms are anticipated to strengthen their player safeguards, they should not overlook the need for similar actions in other markets, including the US.

**Safer Gambling Week: A US Perspective**
By: Keith Whyte, Executive Director of NCPG

“The United States and Great Britain are two nations divided by a shared language.”

This quote, often credited to George Bernard Shaw, is intriguing to ponder as numerous British operators and providers have entered the US marketplace. It’s worthwhile to analyze how each region views responsible gambling in the lead-up to Safer Gambling Week.

This year, the UK Gambling Commission prohibited credit card usage for online gambling. However, in many US states, UK firms and their partners or branches are still permitted to accept credit cards for online gambling.

This presents a unique chance to compare and contrast responsible gambling data for the two countries, particularly concerning online gambling and credit card usage.

The role of government in responsible gambling also varies between the UK and the US. In the UK, it’s acknowledged that the government plays a significant role in mitigating gambling-related harm, primarily through the Gambling Commission and the National Health Service.

Across the nation, there is no central authority overseeing gambling, and our federal health organizations have not allocated any funds to tackle problematic gambling. Although individual states hold the primary responsibility for regulating and taxing gambling activities, many have taken minimal or no action to address the issue of gambling addiction.

Despite the fact that half of the states that legalized sports betting since May 2018 have utilized a portion of the newly generated revenue to attempt to mitigate potential harm, a significant number of states, eight to be precise, still decline to provide any public resources for the prevention or treatment of gambling problems.

America’s hands-off approach has historically relied more heavily on private entities to deliver essential services, including healthcare. In areas like problem gambling, which are often associated with stigma and lack of support, this dependence means that gambling industry operators and suppliers bear a greater responsibility for providing fundamental safety nets.

British companies might be taken aback by this expectation and the reality that problem gambling services are frequently unavailable when companies fail to take initiative.

However, this situation also presents a valuable opportunity for companies to collaborate with non-profit organizations, utilizing their strengths to develop robust responsible gambling programs without encountering the bureaucratic obstacles and complexities that might arise with government assistance.

In both situations, and in numerous other domains, British businesses operating in both markets have the chance to examine the data, evaluate the relative advantages and disadvantages, and outcomes of diverse approaches to key responsible gambling policy matters. This is not simply to prevent “rebound” but to develop positive, proactive best practices that can be implemented across various regions.

We can gain significant knowledge from one another in our endeavors to minimize gambling-related harms, which is the only method to maximize the benefits to individuals, enterprises, and society from legal gambling. Operators have the opportunity to learn from the evidence in all jurisdictions, while keeping in mind that even in this globalized field, there are still substantial differences in governance traditions and institutions, industry expectations and obligations, and individual consumer preferences and behaviors – in short, those cultural distinctions that Shaw outlined.

We anticipate a Safer Gambling Week and hope that many British gambling companies will adopt safer gambling in all their operations, including in the United States.

Keith Whyte is the Executive Director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.

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