Foreword
RESPONSIBLE GAMING is a vital social pillar and integral part of our reason for being and one of our core values. Responsibility is embedded in our ethical standard, for which there is no compromise, and which guides all our decisions.
We believe that responsible gaming is a strength that our customers value and allows lotteries to differentiate themselves positively from other gambling operators. Responsible gaming must be a genuine part of our members’ operations in all gambling areas, including horse betting.
According to statistics from the WLA Global Lottery Data Compendium 2022, 16 of the association’s member companies offered pool-based (pari-mutuel) horse betting. In addition, six WLA member companies offered fixed-odds horse betting. Horse betting accounts for about nine percent of total WLA sales, but the share of total gross gaming revenue is lower. It is noteworthy that two WLA members are the largest horse betting companies in the world – the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), in Hong Kong and Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), in France – which account for as much as 93 percent of the WLA member total horse betting sales.
On the following pages, we have identified the main rules and guidelines that will help our members market their horse betting products in a competitive and socially responsible way.
Introduction:
Horse Betting and customers
Responsible gaming is, first and foremost, a public health issue. Around one to four percent of players can be considered problematic gamblers. That percentage varies significantly from country to country, however, an important number of customers have gambling problems.
In order to address this effectively, action must be taken in all gambling areas. Lotteries should identify and support excessive gamblers in all sale channels. This means ensuring customers are made aware in a timely manner of the issues and where necessary raise red flags during interactions. Lotteries should adapt and target the relational and commercial discourse according to the customer’s level of play and support players with possible excessive gambling behavior by assisting them in getting professional, external help.
Over the years, horse betting has not always been considered as responsible gambling, because the activities in the betting shops and racetracks were firmly concentrated around gambling. However, more recently, its reputation has improved thanks to digitalization. In fact, according to recent gambling study (https://www.uib.no/en/spillforsk/136119/gambling-andvideo-game-problems-general-adult-population-norway), carried out by the Norwegian Competence Center for Gambling and Gaming Research at the University of Bergen, Norway, except for lottery games, horse betting causes significantly fewer gambling excesses than other product groups.
Understanding customer profiles is a critical aspect in the horse betting industry. The average horse betting customer is generally a 45 to 54-year-old male, which is slightly older than a sports betting customer. There are many players of other ages and gender. Women account for a relatively small share of horse betting sales, but their percentage of the number of players is reasonably high.
