- In advance of the new British gambling laws, the UK gambling industry has established the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG).
- The online poker contribution to the group will be provided by the membership of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA).
In advance of the new British gambling laws, the UK gambling industry has established the Industry Group for Responsible Gambling (IGRG).
The IGRG will formalize arrangements for responsible gambling initiatives and provide a structure to promote socially responsible gambling. It will also “provide a cross-sector forum to consider matters of common interest associated with the three licensing objectives in Section 1 of the Gambling Act 2005.”
The online poker contribution to the group will be provided by the membership of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) whose members include most of the larger operators offering online poker to the UK market.
RGA CEO Clive Hawkswood has been appointed chairman for a one year term to get the group going. The first work of the group has been announced as a “stock-take” of all of the existing initiatives.
The IGRG will also take responsibility for the industry contribution to a review of the “Gambling Industry Code for Socially Responsible Advertising” following a request to do so from Maria Miller MP, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport. The review was announced in the House of Lords as an amendment to create a statutory review was rejected by the House.
The group may have been inspired by a similar organization in the US. The American Gaming Association (AGA) founded the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) in 1996. The NCRG is funded by the industry and pays for independent research into responsible gambling initiatives in the US.
