The sweepstakes casino sector’s continued growth has led stakeholders to launch the Social and Promotional Games Association, advocating for responsible social casino gaming.
Acting as a trade body for the sector, the SPGA has brought together companies within the social casino space to uphold player protection and create a “safe, legal and engaging” social gaming environment.
“The formation of the SPGA is a critical step toward establishing a clear and cohesive voice for the social sweepstakes industry,” said Seth Schorr, CEO at FSG Digital Inc.
“By creating this association, we are committed to helping regulators and policymakers understand how our industry’s products work and how they comply with the appropriate state and federal laws.”
Sweepstake casinos allow players to access free-to-play casinos that often operate using in-game currencies, with players not always needing to make any deposits while still being able to gain prizes.
The sector has faced much scrutiny in recent years, with some seeing social casino offerings as illegal operations due to their lack of licensing. Also, some unlicensed sweepstake casinos will allow players to make deposits to purchase in-game currencies.
The SPGA has established internal committees to focus on two key areas, player safeguards and regulatory compliance, to provide regulators, policymakers and players with “a comprehensive understanding” of sweepstakes offerings.
Under the player safeguards initiative, the SPGA will develop educational resources for players while expanding mechanisms to address consumer complaints and enhance player protection.
Meanwhile, the regulatory compliance initiative will develop policy principles to “maintain alignment with the established regulatory and legal structures that underpin social games”.
This will hope to provide regulators and policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of the compliant and consumer-first operating model of the sweepstakes sector, highlighting the ways operators ensure player protection.
“The SPGA is committed to fostering a cohesive industry voice through collaboration among member companies,” added Camilla Wright of Red Knot Communications, a spokesperson for the new industry body.
“Our goal is to provide forums for sharing knowledge and best practice mutual support and to create an environment that puts consumers first.
“By prioritising transparency and responsible practices and communicating this effectively, we will have an industry that thrives as it ensures that millions of adult American consumers can continue this form of online entertainment with confidence.”
The SPGA will kick-off these initiatives on 1 October by bringing together industry experts for a discussion on the future of social and promotional gaming.
Eilers-Krejcik’s Managing Director of Digital and Interactive Gaming, Matt Kaufman, recently came out in support of social casinos, explaining that “sweepstakes are operating within the confines of legal constructions of sweepstakes contests and are acting entirely within their rights”.
Entain has backed a Regulus Partners report which has asked the UK government to “implement a concerted policy crackdown on the growing threat of black market operators to grow revenues and enhance player protections”.
Revealed at SBC Summit in Lisbon by Entain CEO Barry Gibson, Regulus Partners’ report sets out a series of policy proposals to combat unlicensed operators in the UK and internationally, helping to “close a tax gap of almost £340m for the UK Exchequer across the next parliament”.
“Taking on the black market operators should be a key priority for policymakers around the world,” commented Gibson
“It will tackle crime and raise money which could be spent on critical areas such as healthcare, education and infrastructure. It would ensure that customers get greater protection from playing with fully regulated and legitimate operators.”
Entain noted that Regulus Partners’ report showed that “black market participation in the UK is still growing” despite the country’s “proportionate and well-balanced regulatory framework”.
However, international markets are even more affected by the illegal market due to the “impact of bans or heavy restrictions on popular gambling products, which encourage players towards the black market”.
In France where “around 45% of gambling revenue is spent in the black market”, while in Germany, the figure is “as much as 60%”.
The Regulus report added that legal and regulatory countermeasures against the illegal market “have not yet been utilised widely” and that such countermeasures “can be highly effective as long as the domestically regulated product offer remains attractive”.
Five countermeasures were described within the report. These were:
Regulus Partners’ report follows research published last week by Frontier Economics for the Betting and Gaming Council which has estimated that 1.5 million members of the British public wager almost £4.3bn on the illegal market every year.
In response to that report, the BGC called for “balanced regulations and stable taxation” as the best form of defence to combat the illegal gambling market.
Gibson added: “This is a pivotal moment; if we go down the route of further tax increases rather than tackle the black market, it will drive even more customers towards unscrupulous operators and damage responsible, regulated businesses.”
