Session Title

Session 3-4-B: Implementing Responsible Gambling

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation

Location

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

Start Date

25-5-2023 3:30 PM

End Date

25-5-2023 5:00 PM

Disciplines

Gaming and Casino Operations Management | Training and Development

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Like many things, the need for self-care for staff came to light because of the pandemic. Every day, Oregon Lottery staff would go out and deal with angry, frightened, confused, frustrated, and sometimes aggressive players and retailers. People struggling with all kinds of stress, acting out and exhibiting behaviors that might normally suggest the need for an RG conversation. We started to hear that the staff was feeling overwhelmed, burned out, powerless, unheard, unappreciated, unable to connect. We were asking them to promote RG during this difficult time - but we had not given them the tools they needed to protect themselves so they could do the important work of helping to protect our players.

We intuited that it was not going to improve without action, so we did something about it.

With staff and customer care in mind, Oregon Lottery engaged with Jay Robinson to develop an innovative approach that used RG training as the entry point for staff self-care. Premised on the belief that taking care of our staff is required to successfully take care of players, the interactive training combined foundational self-care techniques with tools built specifically for situations Lottery staff had asked for help with.

After 6-months of in-depth research and employee engagement, Lottery piloted the first live webinar shortly after lockdown ended in Oregon. This curriculum has proven to be the most in demand training offered by Lottery and has improved our ability to promote responsible gambling. We are currently at work on the next webinar in the series. We will share key learnings from this initiative to help our colleagues leverage of power self-care for staff.

The So What?

This session demonstrates a meaningful and straightforward way to take care of employees in the real-world challenges related to promoting responsible gambling. Participants may be able to adopt or adapt some of these strategies in their own gaming work settings.

Keywords

responsible gambling, staff education; self-care; engagement; player protection;

Author Bios

Stacy Shaw leads Product Marketing, Customer Experience and Responsible Gaming programs for the Oregon Lottery. In this role, she provides executive leadership and strategic direction for Lottery's games and services and critical brand programs. Over the last ten years she has developed an industry leading RG program for Oregon Lottery, by collaborating across diverse stakeholder groups. Before joining Lottery, Stacy held senior marketing and business development roles with Hyatt Hotels, Preferred Hotels and Related Companies.

Jay (Janine) Robinson is recognized as an expert in training related to gambling safeguards, who has created original responsible gambling and treatment training programs across Australia, Canada, the US, and United Kingdom for the past 20 years. Known as an accessible, grounded, and relevant knowledge broker, Jay transforms best evidence into new, impactful policy and programs that address the needs of our new global gambling landscapes.

Funding Sources

N/A

Competing Interests

N/A

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May 25th, 3:30 PM May 25th, 5:00 PM

The Critical but Overlooked Player Protection Tool: Self Care for Customer Facing Staff

Park MGM, Las Vegas, NV

BACKGROUND

Like many things, the need for self-care for staff came to light because of the pandemic. Every day, Oregon Lottery staff would go out and deal with angry, frightened, confused, frustrated, and sometimes aggressive players and retailers. People struggling with all kinds of stress, acting out and exhibiting behaviors that might normally suggest the need for an RG conversation. We started to hear that the staff was feeling overwhelmed, burned out, powerless, unheard, unappreciated, unable to connect. We were asking them to promote RG during this difficult time - but we had not given them the tools they needed to protect themselves so they could do the important work of helping to protect our players.

We intuited that it was not going to improve without action, so we did something about it.

With staff and customer care in mind, Oregon Lottery engaged with Jay Robinson to develop an innovative approach that used RG training as the entry point for staff self-care. Premised on the belief that taking care of our staff is required to successfully take care of players, the interactive training combined foundational self-care techniques with tools built specifically for situations Lottery staff had asked for help with.

After 6-months of in-depth research and employee engagement, Lottery piloted the first live webinar shortly after lockdown ended in Oregon. This curriculum has proven to be the most in demand training offered by Lottery and has improved our ability to promote responsible gambling. We are currently at work on the next webinar in the series. We will share key learnings from this initiative to help our colleagues leverage of power self-care for staff.

The So What?

This session demonstrates a meaningful and straightforward way to take care of employees in the real-world challenges related to promoting responsible gambling. Participants may be able to adopt or adapt some of these strategies in their own gaming work settings.