Strengthening our industry through certification

Over the course of the year, important issues that impact the reputation of the regulated lottery and sports betting industry have made headlines around the world.

From regulation for third-party courier bulk sales of lotto tickets, large-scale, complex match-fixing and sports betting scandals, and combatting illegal operators, to errors in lotto draws and a global web service outage, these all negatively affect the credibility of our industry.

The WLA continues to lead global efforts to address these challenges. In response, the WLA published a position paper reinforcing the importance of maintaining strict standards of integrity, transparency, and player protection across all jurisdictions.

We are also advancing our joint project with the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), to develop a Standardized Method for Estimating Illegal Gambling markets, using artificial intelligence technology.

We also provide members with practical tools, best practice guides, platforms for information exchange and other resources to ensure the integrity and robustness of their operations, in all global jurisdictions.

Two key pillars of our strategy involve the work done for security and responsible gaming certification by our Security and Risk Management Committee (SRMC) and the CSR Committee respectively.

In this issue we highlight some of the important initiatives we have delivered during the year to enhance our support to members and the broader regulated lottery and sports betting ecosystem.
We have rolled out Project RED, which enables members to create a more Responsible, Ethical and Dynamic industry, by enhancing their CSR initiatives, through the development and sharing of targeted resources, tools, and strategies.

We have also addressed an increasingly critical issue: the risks associated with emerging adults (aged 18 to 24). These risks are multi-layered and cover biological, psychological, social, cultural, and economic domains and are amplified by digital platforms and aggressive marketing, which create a unique high-risk environment. The WLA recognized the need to take action and has partnered with the East Carolina University Gambling Research and Policy Initiative and launched the Reaching Emerging Adults microsite to address Emerging Adult (EA) Gambling Risk.

On the security and risk management front, following the release of the latest WLA Security Control Standard in October last year, we increased the number of information sessions to assist members in understanding the changes to the standard.  We’ll gain more insights into activities from the SRMC and takeaways from the WLA and European Lotteries Security and Operational Risks Seminar, on the theme of trust in the supply chain, held in Oslo, Norway in October.

We hope you enjoy this issue.