Effective measures on how the online gambling industry can deal with compulsive and underage gambling will be the highlight of eCOGRA’s new training session. Scheduled for the end of May in London, the online gaming watchdog is expected to attract over 100 top internet casinos to its training day.

Online casino and poker room managers are doing their best to reassure the industry’s critics that they are just as concerned and committed to resolving the problems surrounding underage and problem gambling as charitable groups and government organizations are. Personnel responsible for handling these issues internationally are expected to benefit from the two day intensive training session by eCOGRA and the Global Gambling Guidance Group (G4).

An inaugural first training session was held last year in Cape Town, South Africa for eCOGRA member sites and was considered widely successful.
This year, attendees will learn how to identify problem gamblers using Brief Intervention Techniques (BIT) and role play exercizes. Mediums such as lectures, homework and practical workshop sessions will enable casino personnel to learn how to intervene and prevent irresponsible gambling situations from arising. Case history material will also be used, along with insights on how problem gambling affects family life and society in general.

Andrew Beveridge, eCOGRA’s chief executive, says that each site sporting the "Play It Safe" seal must demonstrate that it has adequately trained members of staff to ensure that its policy toward online gambling is responsible.

According to Beveridge, the popularity of online gambling is helping to ensure player safety at a multitude of sites. "Responsible operators know that keeping their site and their players safe is critical to their long term business goals and the overall good of the industry," he says. "We are pleased with the commitment in this area of our "Play It Safe" operators, who have now included specific responsible gaming measures, aids and advice on their sites and appointed staff to look after this critically important operational requirement. Allowing underage or problem gamblers to play is morally wrong, and could have industry wide commercial and legal consequences.”

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