Seven of the largest American sports betting operators are joining forces to promote responsible gambling through a new organization.
The Responsible Online Gaming Association was announced earlier this week and will conduct responsible gaming research, promote best practices in sports betting and online gambling, and drive educational content.
The founding member of the new association represent 85 percent of the American online gambling market and include:
BetMGM
bet365
DraftKings
Fanatics
FanDuel
Hard Rock Digital
PENN Entertainment
The founding members collectively committed $20 million to the association and its mission. They also agreed to share with each other the names and information of customers that have been excluded from their sportsbooks due to problem gambling.
Dr. Jennifer Shatley was named the executive director of the Responsible Online Gaming Association. Dr. Shatley previously served as vice president of responsible gaming policies and compliance at Caesars Entertainment for 13 years, and also served with the UNLV International Center for Gaming Regulation, Canadian Responsible Gambling Council, and Logan Avenue Consulting.
“I’m incredibly excited to move this forward and to really do some impactful things and to really expand the knowledge through the research and to create these evidence-based best practices and to really empower players with information,” Shatley said in a release.
Some of the future plans of the association that were announced at the launch included an independent data clearinghouse that will allow industry-wide information sharing to protect customers, and the creation of an independent certification process to rate members’ responsible gaming efforts, procedures and policies.