Executives at 888 Holdings unveiled and discussed an eponymous eight-part strategy to promote responsible gaming earlier this year.
The eight parts of the safer gambling initiative tie directly to eight commitments the UK gaming giant hopes to establish as a core part of its business—which reported Q1 2021 revenue of $272.5 million in the same corporate presentation, dated May 1.
The first two parts of the eight-part initiative address 888’s culture of responsibility and its commitment to preventing harm.
“We are committed to change within our business,” 888 said of its first goal. “Creating a culture of responsibility that ensures safer gambling and transparency is a priority for everyone in our business.” For the second goal, the company said it was “committed to identifying those potentially at risk of harm and restricting and supporting them at the earliest point.”
Commitments to raising standards, as well as research, education and treatment, were the basis for the third and fourth parts of the initiative, respectively. “We are committed to collaborating with relevant stakeholders to develop a shared knowledge base and stronger overall standards for safer gambling,” 888 said.
“We are [also] committed to continuous investment in programs of research, education and treatment (RET) to address gambling harm and ways to help prevent it.”
Ensuring their customers transparent access to information about their personal gambling activity was identified as the fifth commitment in the plan. 888 said its customers needed “quick, simple and intuitive ways to monitor their activity in real time.” A sixth pledge staked the company to helping its customers stay in control. “We are committed to providing the most advanced safer gambling tools,” 888 said.
888 plans to commit to promoting responsible attitudes on gambling as its seventh goal by “providing information, education and encouragement to our players to gamble safely.” The eighth and final part of the initiative has more of a long-term scope: a commitment to continuous progress.
“We are committed to continuous improvement, building a deeper understanding about the causes and markers of harm, and using this to drive continued positive change,” 888 said.
The senior executives who reportedly discussed the eight-part initiative in tandem with the corporate presentation were CEO Itai Pazner, CFO Yariv Dafna and CSO Vaughan Lewis. The three executives, as well as non-executive chairman Lord Jon Mendelsohn, were listed in an accompanying slide.
In an exclusive interview with Poker Industry PRO last November, 888 Holding’s VP of Marketing and Head of 888poker Elad Nir said the company’s responsible gambling systems use AI “to help protect players and ensure fairness. We are constantly refining the algorithms used in this system to help detect player activity that might require any intervention.”
“At the heart of this process, we have a highly trained team that speaks to our players and helps ensure they’re in control,” Nir said at the time. “As a group, we are always pushing for enhanced ways of preventing gambling-related harm and in the first half of [2020] we more than doubled our safe gambling interactions with customers.”
