Linda Hancock

Gambling and corporate social responsibility (CSR): Re-defining industry and state roles on duty of care, host responsibility and risk management

Abstract During the 1990s, states embraced legalised gambling as a means of supplementing state revenue. But gaming machines (EGMs, pokies, VLTs, Slots) have become increasingly controversial in countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which experienced unprecedented roll-out of gaming machines in casino and community settings; alongside revenue windfalls for both governments and the gambling industry. Governments have recognised that gambling results in a range of social and economic harms and, similar to tobacco and alcohol, have introduced public policies predicated on harm minimisation. Yet despite these, gaming losses have continued to climb in most jurisdictions, along with concerns about gambling-related harms. The first part of this article discusses an emerging debate in Ontario Canada, that draws parallels between host responsibility in alcohol and gambling venues. In Canada, where government owns and operates the gaming industry, this debate prompts important questions on the role of the state, duty of care and regulation ‘in the public interest’ and on CSR, host responsibility and consumer protection. This prompts the question: Do governments owe a duty of care to gamblers? The article then discusses three domains of accumulating research evidence to inform questions raised in the Ontario debate: evidence that visible behavioural indicators can be used with high confidence to identify problem gamblers on-site in venues as they gamble; new systems using player tracking and loyalty data that can provide management with high precision identification of problem gamblers and associated risk (for protective interventions); and research on technological design features of new generation gaming products in interaction with players, that shows how EGM machines can be the site for monitoring/protecting players. We then canvass some leading international jurisdictions on gambling policy CSR and consumer protection. In light of this new research, we ask whether the risk of legal liability poses a tipping point for more interventionist public policy responses by both the state and industry. This includes a proactive role for the state in re-regulating the gambling industry/products; instituting new forms of gaming machine product control/protection; and reinforcing corporate social responsibility (CSR) and host responsibility obligations on gambling providers – beyond self-regulatory codes. We argue the ground is shifting, there is new evidence to inform public policy and government regulation and there are new pressures on gambling providers and regulators to avail themselves of the new technology – or risk litigation.

Policing, Accountability and Citizenship in the Market State

This paper investigates trends in the reform agenda for Victoria Police. These include the implementation of the concept of user pays, outsourcing of ‘non–core’ services, expanded privatisation, corporate sponsorship, customer service, flatter management structures, fixed term contracts for senior officers, and performance targets — changes identified with 1990s economic rationalism, managerialism and the market model. With implications for similar trends internationally, the paper unpacks what these reforms mean in terms of relationships between the community and police (including services, management, and organisation). It raises questions related to what constitutes core tasks of the state, state accountability to the public, public safety, the social costs of economic rationalism, managerialism and the microeconomic reforms of the 1990s. These signal shifts in governance, and changes in the relationship between the citizen and the state.

Critiquing the Reno Model I-IV International Influence on Regulators and Governments (2004–2015)— the Distorted Reality of “Responsible Gambling”

This article critically examines the Reno Model responsible gambling undertaking: its evolution, core ideological beliefs and promotion in four internationally influential journal articles, published between 2004 and 2015. This discourse has framed the international RG policy landscape for over a decade; emphasising individualised responsibility for harms and providing governments with justifications for compromised RG regulation. Axioms of the Reno Model are individual responsibility, framed as personal control and autonomy for informed choice and a focus on problem gamblers who manifest clinical symptoms of impaired control. Drawing on corporate political activity (CPA) analysis, regulatory-avoidance framing strategies of the gambling industry include shaping the evidence base, policy substitution (voluntary industry operator codes of conduct and problem gambler treatment programs) and assertions of insufficient evidence for introducing reforms. Barriers to ethical RG standards include deception and exploitation, faulty regulation and grim working conditions in gambling environments, along with Reno Model adherents’ dismissal of contradictory evidence. The critique proposes a shift in the dominant regulatory Model from industry self-regulation under self-monitored codes of practice to RG-Consumer Protection that addresses structural issues of power and vested interests, featuring core principles of public health, consumer protection, operator duty of care, regulatory transparency and independent research.

Analysis of alcohol industry submissions against marketing regulation

A growing body of literature points to the role of vested interests as a barrier to the implementation of effective public health policies. Corporate political activity by the alcohol industry is commonly used to influence policy and regulation. It is important for policy makers to be able to critique alcohol industry claims opposed to improved alcohol marketing regulation. The Australian National Preventive Health Agency reviewed alcohol marketing regulations in 2012 and stakeholders were invited to comment on them. In this study we used thematic analysis to examine submissions from the Australian alcohol industry, based on a system previously developed in relation to tobacco industry corporate political activity. The results show that submissions were a direct lobbying tactic, making claims to government that were contrary to the evidence-base. Five main frames were identified, in which the alcohol industry claimed that increased regulation: (1) is unnecessary; (2) is not backed up by sufficient evidence; (3) will lead to unintended negative consequences; and (4) faces legal barriers to implementation; underpinned by the view (5) that the industry consists of socially responsible companies working toward reducing harmful drinking. In contrast with tobacco industry submissions on public policy, which often focused on legal and economic barriers, the Australian alcohol industry placed a heavier emphasis on notions of regulatory redundancy and insufficient evidence. This may reflect differences in where these industries sit on the ‘regulatory pyramid’, alcohol being less regulated than tobacco.

Energy and communication infrastructure for disaster resilience in rural and regional Australia

ABSTRACT Energy and communication infrastructure for disaster resilience in rural and regional Australia. Regional Studies. Australias rural and regional areas are prone to frequent natural disasters with extensive socio-economic impacts. Resultant damage to large-grid energy and communication networks can lead to widespread, lengthy outages, signalling the need for alternative infrastructure developments to aid disaster risk reduction and resilience-building (DRRR). Distributed smart renewable energy micro-grid systems can mitigate adverse impacts through outage prevention and rapid service restoration, increase rural and regional resilience, and offer communities opportunities for socio-economic development. However, renewable energy and digital communications policy uncertainty currently adversely affects disaster preparedness and investment in alternative infrastructure, undermining rural and regional futures.

Gambling regulatory regimes and the framing of “responsible gambling” by transnational casino corporations: Asia-Pacific regimes in comparative perspective

This article addresses land-based casino gambling, with consideration of how Asia-Pacific gambling might be distinguished from other globally-oriented regional gambling regimes. Gambling is an area of public policy that is licensed and regulated by national/sub-national governments which use a range of policy instruments in seeking to curb gambling-related problems in an industry dominated by transnational casino corporations (TNCCs) with multiple sites and global supply chains. While the sheer scale of gambling in Macau tends to define Asian gambling, other jurisdictions seeking to capitalise on the burgeoning Asian market for gambling adopt similar liberal gambling regulatory models, with the partial exception of Singapore. Here, the role of TNCCs is explored, including how they frame and practice responsibility for predictable harms – operationalised as “responsible gambling” – by casinos with operations in Macau, Melbourne and Las Vegas. Industry self-regulation and individuals bearing risk and consequences of gambling-related harm are central axioms. Government and industry are co-producers of the costs and benefits of gambling in liberal regimes, and TNCCs operating across jurisdictions tend to operate to the least restrictive regulations rather than proactively embracing global best practice.

Fine-tuning Livingstone and Adams' ethical principles for integrity in gambling research

Keywords: Conflict of interest; corporate political activity (CPA); gambling research; integrity; public interest

Applying Corporate Political Activity (CPA) analysis to Australian gambling industry submissions against regulation of television sports betting advertising

Aims This research aimed to assess the application to the gambling industry, of Corporate Political Activity (CPA) analysis previously developed from public health research on tobacco industry interactions with political institutions and previously applied to the alcohol industry, but not the gambling industry. Background A growing body of literature has confirmed how public interest outcomes are frequently opposed by vested interests. This research focused on gambling industry submissions to a 2013 Australian Parliamentary inquiry into sports betting advertising. Gambling advertising became highly controversial following deregulation of sports betting advertising in Australia subsequent to the 2008 Australian High Court Betfair challenge. The dramatic increase in gambling advertising during sporting event broadcasts at children’s viewing times and on new interactive technology, sparked public concerns. A series of national regulatory reviews followed and the gambling industry was actively involved in opposing further regulation. Method The research used a corporate political activity (CPA) framework of analysis developed by UK tobacco public health researchers, which identified strategies and tactics used internationally by the tobacco industry, to broker pro-tobacco public policy outcomes. Testing the application of this CPA framework to gambling pro-industry strategies/tactics, this research focused on gambling industry submissions to the 2013 Australian Parliamentary Committee Inquiry. Results Like the tobacco industry, the research found the gambling industry used identified strategies and tactics, some new tactics and a new strategy of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, promoting ‘responsible’ industry practices and pre-emptive establishment of internal ‘responsibility’ units/practices. Despite public concerns regarding sports betting advertising, the gambling industry reinforced individual choice/blame for harms and claimed it acted responsibly. It did this using strategies identified in the tobacco industry CPA framework: information strategy (and shaping the evidence base); financial incentive strategy; constituency building strategy; policy substitution strategy; legal strategy; and constituency fragmentation and destabilization strategy. Conclusion Similar to the CPA analysis applied to tobacco and alcohol industries, the research demonstrated the usefulness of the CPA taxonomy for analyzing and documenting pre-emptive industry policy strategies and tactics, exposing gambling industry efforts to maintain industry self-regulation via voluntary codes and avoid more government regulation. Cross-sectoral application of the framework signals great potential for use of CPA by policymakers and public health advocates as a tool in the analysis of corporate industry arguments/discourses.

Correction: Analysis of Alcohol Industry Submissions against Marketing Regulation

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170366.].

Replacing the Reno Model with a Robust Public Health Approach to “Responsible Gambling”: Hancock and Smith’s Response to Commentaries on Our Original Reno Model Critique

This paper responds to commentaries from the Reno Model authors and other international researchers who reviewed our earlier paper in this volume. We take a considered view of the Reno Model and find it to be wanting as a responsible gambling (RG) tool because it fails to address the depth and diversity of harms so evident in today’s gambling environment. We propose a new consumer protection paradigm that prioritizes operator duty of care, integrity of operations, and consumer protection, along with independent regulation and research. We discuss the rebuttal of our Reno critique by Shaffer et al. along with the other commentaries. There appears to be general support for our critique and more robust public health approaches to RG. We urge support for engagement in an international process for a WHO instrument referencing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Similar to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco, this would re-frame gambling harm prevention and address current deficiencies in regulatory oversight of harmful gambling products and environments, by promoting duty of care, harm prevention, regulatory integrity, and public accountability.