We know that regulated and legalized gambling is the safest route for players and the public, but still, this comes with risks and challenges.
The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) will welcome attendees to its annual Discovery conference this week, with sessions available both online and in-person for the first time.
Discovery 2022 is themed 360 RG: Keeping Pace with the Global Omnichannel Experience. Toronto-based RGC said the conference would focus on the rise of omnichannel and its implications for protecting players.
“The industry has gone through immense growth and diversification over the past year, with no signs of slowing down,” said Shelley White, CEO of RGC. “Not only are we seeing new markets emerge all over the world, but with it, the legalization of different gambling offerings.
“We know that regulated and legalized gambling is the safest route for players and the public, but still, this comes with risks and challenges.”
The conference is being held at Vantage Venues in downtown Toronto. It begins Tuesday, November 8, and runs through Thursday, November 10.
Tackling Player Protection in “This New Era”
According to the conference agenda, Discovery 2022 kicks off with an hourlong online-only workshop at 2 p.m. EST Tuesday hosted by MoneyStack called Designing an Online Community for Your Responsible Gambling Program.
Wednesday’s keynote will be delivered at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday by Tim Miller, Executive Director of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). Miller “will share his perspective on effective harm reduction strategies and player safeguards from across Europe and what lessons can be learned and applied in other jurisdictions,” RGC said.
A panel to discuss “what player protection really means in this new era” immediately follows. The panel includes Miller, White, and two key officials — Tom Mungham, CEO of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), the provincial regulator, and Jane Palles, Group Head of Safer Gambling Strategy at Flutter Entertainment — among others.
On Wednesday, the conference will hold sessions for online and in-person attendees covering:
- Real-time Connections: Meaningful Interventions in the Land-based Environment, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., a panel that includes representatives from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), Niagara Casinos, and the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation (aka SaskGaming), a crown corporation owned by the provincial government in Saskatchewan
- A Generation at Risk: Increasing Attention on Youth Harm Prevention, also from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., includes officials from the Canadian non-profit Apathy is Boring
- Strategies for Success: Effective Online Interventions for Meaningful Outcomes, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., with comments from officials with AGCO, Rush Street Interactive (RSI), and Norsk Tipping
- Mitigating Financial Harms for Gambling, also from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., a panel that includes speakers from RG Check and EPIC Risk Management
- The Influence of Advertising and its Role in the Normalization of Gambling, from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., includes comments from Adam Warrington, Vice President for Responsible Gaming with FanDuel Group
The conference continues Thursday with several in-person-only events, starting with a workshop hosted by CAMH entitled Generating Stakeholder Insights on an Evolving Gambling Policy Framework. Researchers JF Crépault and Tara Marie Watson will run the event from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
A plenary session, Supporting Digital Wellbeing in a Connected World: Exploring the Intersection of Digital Wellbeing and Online Gambling, follows from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for both online and in-person attendees. Melissa Salmon, Senior Researcher for RGC’s Centre for the Advancement of Best Practices, will attend the panel, along with Richard Bayliss, Senior Regulatory Affairs and Compliance Manager at Playtech.
Thursday’s events include:
- Safer by Design: Minimizing Risk Through Game Mechanics, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (in-person only), a panel that includes Miller, as well as representatives from IGT and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC)
- Staying a Step Ahead: Innovations in Community-based Prevention, also from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (and also in-person only), includes speakers from SOCH Mental Health and Métis Nation of Ontario
- A second plenary session, Driving Intentional Change: An Exploration of Trends and Insights that are Inspiring the Future of RG, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and available online and in-person. Melissa Ball, Senior Manager of Responsible Gambling at iGaming Ontario (iGO), Martin Lycka, Senior Vice President for American Regulatory Affairs and Responsible Gambling at Entain, and Aaron GlynWilliams, Director of Policy for Research and Strategy at OLG, are among the panelists.
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