William Hill Rolls Out Nobody Harmed Campaign
Betting and gambling operator William Hill has launched a new Nobody Harmed campaign, admitting that they have not put acceptable levels of effort into responsible gambling initiatives.
Ciaran O’Brien, William Hill’s Corporate Communications Director, stated that there was a need for the company do more when it comes to dealing with problem gambling, saying:
“Quite simply, while we have always taken problem gambling seriously, we have fallen below what’s expected of us by the regulator, parliament and ultimately the public.
“We need to move much faster and get much better at addressing the harm caused by problem gambling.”
Nobody Harmed
The bookmaker has outlined the four key targets of the Nobody Harmed campaign, ensuring their advertising and marketing helps customers stay in control, finding new ways to identify players who are at risk, strengthen the overall support structure, and make sure all staff are passionate about fulfilling their ambition.
Speaking further, O’Brien explained:
“The ultimate goal of the campaign is that nobody is harmed by gambling, but like any ambition, it will be hard to achieve and we certainly cannot achieve it alone.
“The important thing about stating the ambition however is it gives a clear lead to our people that we should seek to do the right thing.”
This call to arms from O’Brien is likely to cause a few more developers and operators to spring into action, with responsible gambling initiatives being an expectation of the UK Government and the UK Gambling Commission at this stage.
The news comes after the ASA stated that they were looking into whether William Hill, along with bet365, had breached the guidelines for television advertising, something that O’Brien says the company will “hold our hands up” to if the company is found to have contravened the new ASA code.