What is Responsible Gaming and How Does It Affect Players and Companies?
What is Responsible Gaming?
Responsible gaming is a broad concept which comprises several policies and requirements that apply to gambling stakeholders to ensure they respect the highest standards of quality, and offers a safe user experience that protects people from the potential negative consequences of online gambling.
Gambling should be treated as a fun pastime, and not as a means to generate income. Whilst the majority of the population are able to treat gambling as a recreational activity and spend only what they can afford to risk, for some it can be more difficult.
That’s where the concept of Responsible Gaming comes from. Both online operators and software suppliers that provide online gambling platforms and services are requested to comply with the principles of Responsible Gaming. Furthermore, software suppliers need to support online operators in order to comply with technical and legislative demands.
Here, we highlight the 7 types of Responsible Gaming areas directly connected to the iGaming industry:
1. PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE GAMBLERS
One of the most important areas of Responsible Gaming is concerned with the protection of vulnerable players. Some players may become addicted to casino games or sports betting activities, and by spending too much money, their normal lives are soon affected.
Among the main measures that can be imposed by most regulators in the industry include self-exclusion programs, which limits the amount of money and time players can spend on a gambling website. At the same time, each particular country imposes its own regulations, such as the UK, in which a new regulation that was integrated a few months ago brought a new reality check functionality that applies to all UK & International licensed vendors. This reality check facility makes it possible for players to set a frequency to receive a display of the time elapsed since the session started, which offers gamblers the chance to set a limit to their losses and exit the gambling website.
All the same, we implemented many other tools to assist players and help them enjoy Responsible Gaming sessions, such as the ability to set financial limits to their accounts. For instance, to avoid potentially hasty decisions, an increase in their deposit limit will not take effect until a period of 24 hours. Furthermore, PICH123 always displays information about special organisations that can offer support to players who have been affected by gambling addiction.
2. PREVENTION OF UNDERAGE GAMBLING
The prevention of underage gaming is one of the most important aspects of Responsible Gaming and it needs to be emphasised that individuals that have not reached the legal age (18 or 21) must not be allowed to gamble for real money.
PICH123 takes all the necessary steps to make sure that underage gambling activities do not take place on their websites and that the laws protecting minors in their targeted jurisdictions are respected. PICH123 always presents a clear registration process for all players and mandatory verification steps to be followed to ensure the age of gamblers. At the same time, parents are advised to monitor and take all the necessary means to block their access by installing parental control apps and/or programs on their devices.
3. SAFETY MEASURES AGAINST CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES
Gambling websites can be affected by online criminals’ activities just like any other sites dealing with e-commerce or financial transactions. To accomplish their goals and obtain private and financial data, online criminals deploy malicious software that targets websites’ vulnerabilities. To stop this growing tendency, PICH123 has inserted procedures and software programs that detect and block money laundering activities and hacking devices.
4. INFORMATION PRIVACY
How can PICH123 protect customers’ private details from prying eyes? Information privacy is connected to the need of keeping players' private details safe from unauthorised access that may occur due to illegal online criminal attacks. By introducing several strong policies to control access to important private data, starting with gamblers’ names, their addresses and phone numbers, we ensure that our players’ information privacy is respected and they are in line with most regulators’ requirements.
5. ONLINE PAYMENT PROTECTION
PICH123 offers betting options for sports and casino games, which means that players need to access a reliable Gaming software platform that can protect their personal data and financial details. This is an important reason why PICH123 puts major attention to choosing the most appropriate gambling payment and risk processing solutions for players to safely deposit, transfer and withdraw money on our website.
6. CREATION OF A SECURE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT
One of the most important principles of safe gambling imposes the need to create a series of controls and mechanisms that creates the framework of a secure online environment. To this end, PICH123 always makes sure our websites are safe locations where players can have fun in a safe gambling environment and all payments and technical processes are developed in a secure fashion.
7. ETHICAL AND RESPONSIBLE MARKETING
PICH123 always complies with the relevant regulatory advertising codes of practice which typically ensure that advertisements are factually correct and do not target underage or vulnerable gamblers, such as players who have self-excluded themselves from gambling. It is also expected that operators should seek permission from the customer prior to engaging in direct marketing through use of the customer’s personal details.
