Mission Driven Responsible Gaming Promotes Safer Play

September marks the start of the NFL season, and this year, millions of Americans tuning into the games will also have the option to place a legal wager. In fact, the American Gaming Association (AGA) estimates that 42.5 million Americans will wager on the 2021 NFL season, with sports betting legal and operational in 26 states and the District of Columbia. Gaming operators like DraftKings, along with several sports leagues and teams, have joined the AGA’s Have A Game Plan.®Bet Responsibly.™ public service campaign to promote responsible gaming, aiming to reach fans across the country.

At DraftKings, it’s all hands on deck to deliver the best possible gaming experience to bettors this season. At the same time, our responsible gaming mission is to protect the vulnerable and promote safer play through groundbreaking technology, educational resources, and employee training, all informed by evidence-based research.

As Director of Responsible Gaming, my team and I are prepared to meet customers where they are — whether they are new to sports betting or do it regularly. September 19 to September 25 marks Responsible Gaming Education Week, providing the opportunity for operators like DraftKings to keep responsible gaming education at the forefront of the betting experience.

The resources we provide to customers as part of our products are a key part of our responsible gaming mission. I’m excited to announce that throughout this NFL season, DraftKings TV commercials running alongside NFL games will include responsible gaming messaging that reminds customers of the resources they have to play safely, including options to set limits on their activity. This builds off of campaigns we created for the company’s social media channels encouraging customers to bet responsibly. While most customers safely enjoy the fun of sports betting, we encourage everyone to develop an awareness and education of responsible gaming. Importantly, customers should know our app allows you to set monetary and/or time limits that fit with your budget and personal preferences. We also offer options to self-exclude entirely from our products. Upon a customer’s first deposit to the online sportsbook, we notify customers about responsible gaming tools through an email, and regularly follow up through various channels, including this year through national TV commercials.

Much of the fun is watching the game in-person out with friends, and I’m proud that all DraftKings retail sportsbooks across the country will be featuring the AGA’s Have A Game Plan® Bet Responsibly™ public service campaign. This marks the first time that the responsible gaming education campaign will be rolled out on a national retail sportsbook footprint. Education is an important component of responsible gaming, and I’m proud of the progress we have made in this area.

Lastly, a core part of DraftKings’ responsible gaming mission is to effectively train employees to recognize customer behavior that might signal a problem. In the past few months, we have more than doubled our Player Protection team, and, this summer, we announced that we are collaborating with the Harvard affiliated Division on Addiction at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) to implement a systems-based responsible gaming program. Systems-based describes a method that includes approaches to training, business practices, and player resources that recognize and respond to the larger context of the gaming environment and its interacting elements. We are opening our business processes to CHA researchers to inform evidence-based responsible gaming practices including employee training. I firmly believe that having the best trained workforce will translate into having the best responsible gaming program.

Before I joined DraftKings, I worked as an administrator with the Harvard affiliated Division on Addiction and with The Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health. Now that I have joined the sports betting industry and am marking my second NFL season, I couldn’t be more excited about the path ahead in responsible gaming. Through groundbreaking technology, educational resources, and innovative approaches to employee training, DraftKings is able to achieve our goals of protecting the vulnerable and promoting safer play for all.