Interview with the WLA President on the importance of certification for responsible, secure gaming and betting

The WLA exists to serve its members and help them achieve their goals to raise funds for good causes and make a positive impact on society. What is the biggest challenge facing our industry?

Our single biggest challenge right now is safeguarding trust. Around the world, our members must navigate complex market landscapes that are affected by different factors, such as illegal operators, fast-moving technologies, and growing regulatory demands.

We have a powerful purpose at WLA, which is to ensure that our member lotteries and sports betting operators serve not just players, but society as a whole. To achieve this, our work and activities must constantly raise the bar on integrity and responsibility.

Our committees provide support to our members on the key topics of security and risk management, combatting illegal lotteries and betting, CSR and responsible gaming and betting integrity for sports and horse racing.

The work of our committees for certification to the WLA Responsible Gaming Framework and Security Control Standard, forms two of our four key pillars. How has the WLA strategic plan advanced these areas?

Our key pillars are a top priority, and our strategy includes diverse activities and initiatives to share expertise and knowledge and develop useful tools to enhance the support we provide our members.

The lotteries were pioneers in adopting responsible gaming frameworks, and continue to lead the industry in player protection, and setting standards that other operators follow.

We maintain and ensure the evolution of our security and RG standards, and related certification tools, to future-proof our members’ operations and offerings. We have also strengthened our collaboration with our Regional Association partners, to increase the number of successful member certifications.

This year, we have delivered knowledge centers for security and risk management, and CSR and responsible gaming. They are available at: publications.world-lotteries.org, and visitors can find a wealth of relevant information, best practices, standards, news updates and much more.

Following the publication of the latest iteration of the WLA Security Control Standard (WLA SCS: 2024) last October, we have been busy this year supporting our members in understanding important changes to the security standard, through webinars and events co-organized with our Regional Association partners in Africa (ALA), Europe (EL) and Latin America (CIBELAE). These sessions highlighted the work and resources developed by the WLA Security and Risk Management Committee (SRMC), to assist members with risk management across their operations, raise awareness of global threats, and discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on cybersecurity.

In the area of responsible gaming, we rolled out ProjectRED, to build a more Responsible, Ethical and Dynamic industry, by strengthening the CSR initiatives of WLA members, through the creation and sharing of targeted resources, tools, and strategies.  The Project can be accessed on the DigitalRG.com certification platform and provides best practices from lotteries in WLA's five global regions; enables lotteries to connect with peers across continents to exchange CSR experiences, and offers powerful benchmarking tools.

What is WLA doing to address the negative impact that illegal operators have on our industry particularly in relation to responsible gaming?

Unlicensed operators jeopardize the reputation of the regulated lottery and sports betting industry for a number of reasons. In relation to responsible gaming, unlike our members, such operators do not deploy player safety measures in their gaming environments.

Consumers may not even realize that they are on an illegal gaming or sports betting site, which might advertise larger payouts, that ultimately are not honored, and there will be no safeguards to protect all players, let alone the most vulnerable.

WLA provides a lot of support to members through the RG Framework certification process, both financially, and by making tools and best practices available.

Our Combatting Illegal Betting and Lotteries Committee also develops useful materials to help our members address illegal operators in their regions. Another key joint project underway with the University of Lausanne, School of Criminal Justice, is to develop a standardized method for estimating the scale and scope of illegal gambling markets, using artificial intelligence. If we are going to successfully combat illegal operators, we first need to have as accurate an estimate of what we are up against.

Equally, the partnerships we have forged with diverse stakeholders and regional lottery associations across the lottery, sports betting and sports ecosystem means we have increased online events and seminars in all our global regions. These provide our members with the latest updates and knowledge on the inextricably linked topics of responsible gaming, combatting illegal operators and maintaining sports integrity, and allow them to share best practices and learn from peers around the world.

Looking back over your first year as President, what have been some of the highlights and achievements, and what’s in store for the coming year?

Over the past year, we have made significant progress in strengthening the services and tools that support our members in achieving their goals and delivering positive impact for society. A major focus has been on enhancing responsible gaming and corporate social responsibility through our partnership with the DigitalRG.com certification platform, which now provides even more powerful resources for our members.

We also supported our members in preparing for certification to the new WLA Security Control Standard as mentioned above for helping ensure that their player environments and products remain secure and trustworthy.

Protecting the reputation of our industry remains a key priority. We have advanced our work to combat illegal gaming and betting through regional events and initiatives that keep our members informed, even about urgent market risks like bulk purchase and through our innovative project applying AI technologies to develop a Standardized Method for Estimating Illegal Gambling. This project will help members better understand and counteract illegal operators in their jurisdictions and could be a starting point to constantly  increase AI competence for our industry and towards our stakeholders.

Another highlight has been our strengthened collaboration with international organizations – including ULIS, the Council of Europe’s ACT project, and other key stakeholders – to maintain sports integrity and fight match-fixing and related illicit activities.

Looking ahead, we are excited about the continued progress toward WLS 2026 in Sydney, which promises to be a landmark event for our global community.