We spoke with Cezar Grasu, Responsible Gambling Manager at NetBet to learn more about the importance of gambling responsibly and why they have been recognised as an industry leader in promoting safe gambling practices.

How have recent events affected the gambling industry in relation to irresponsible gambling?

CG: “At NetBet, we’ve continued to develop and prosper during an extremely challenging 12 months. Over the past year, many companies have to adapt the way they work. The COVID pandemic has hit the economy extremely hard which has had a knock-on effect to everyone.

What we’ve done better than others is recognise the huge effect that gambling can have on all those that gamble. We’ve developed an operational framework with the knowledge that we wanted to minimally disrupt our customers as much as possible. In turn, we hoped that approach would give our customers the confidence to visit NetBet safely and responsibly.

We went about this by taking a look at what we did in the past and what we offered to our customers. At NetBet, we wanted to go on a unique path and look and what could be improved and then decide how we could be a pioneer.”

With NetBet holding several licences for their international markets, how do you ensure that your responsible gambling practices are compliant with the various rules and regulations?

CG: “Compliance has a massively important role to play at NetBet. It is at the very start, middle and end of any journey our customers will embark on but we didn’t want to just settle for the standard. We decided to go above and beyond what our competitors have done and ensure that our customers had the safest product available.”

Can you give us some examples of ways you have promoted responsible gambling with your customers?

CG: “Arguably, the biggest impact came from our customer workshops. Every single year, there are hundreds of workshops available for us and our fellow operators to attend. These are opportunities to see how we can protect our customers as safely as possible.

However, at NetBet, we wanted to give our customers an in-depth guide into what goes on at these workshops so we approached them with all the information and how they can protect themselves fully and gamble responsibly.”

How success full were your workshops?

CG: “Our safer gambling workshops have proved to be a huge success. We started delivering these workshops to our loyal customers before branching out and inviting our newest customers, as well as those who were interested in what we are trying to achieve.

The workshops themselves gave an in-depth analysis into the potential risks that gambling has and how a player can get themselves into huge difficulties. Throughout our workshops, our NetBet customers heard from some of the top experts in gambling psychology as well as from recovering gambling addicts.

What happened after that was quite incredible, with many customers expressing their gratitude at what they had discovered and how that it had opened their eyes to the potential risks that gambling, unfortunately, can offer.”

Did you see any changes in customer behaviour following your workshops?

CG: “The success of our workshops has led to a huge number of our safer gambling tools being used on our site, which went alongside a drop in spending. This showed, without question, that the messages regarding safer gambling in our workshops didn’t go unnoticed.
NetBet’s customer services and safer gambling teams were overloaded with plenty of positive reactions from our customers.”

What is next for NetBet and responsible gambling?

CG: “We’ve changed our safer gambling process and our main goal is to keep delivering the powerful message regarding safer gambling.

Technological advancements will be a huge help in keeping this message going and our workshops and interaction with our customers have shown that we have gone way beyond what the UKGC requires in terms of affordability.

Over the past year, we have delivered a better process for customers, workshops for customers, safety for customers and dedicated support for customers. We are delighted that we have achieved our main ambition and are providing the best level of protection to our loyal band of customers within the gambling industry.”

To learn more about the Global Gaming Awards please visit https://www.globalgamingawards.com/