RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING
The National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP) is a resource that integrates research and monitoring, public education and awareness, training, treatment and counselling. It was specifically devised to address the challenges posed by South Africa’s developing nation gambling environment after the promulgation of gambling legislation in the mid-1990s.
It was the first of its type internationally to integrate the above components and is still the only programme that is jointly managed by a public/private sector partnership involving government regulators and the industry.
In just under eight years, South Africa has established itself as a world leader in the management and mitigation of problem gambling. The challenge is to stay in front.
Supervising the NRGP is the SA Responsible Gambling Trust (SARGT), comprising four government regulators, four industry representatives and an independent chairperson, Dr Vincent Maphai, with the NGB chairperson, Mr.Chris Fismer, as his deputy. The SARGT was created by the SA Council on Responsible Gambling (SAACREG), established by the National Gambling Board and also a public/private sector partnership. The trust reports to SAACREG.
There is a high degree of accountability and transparency in terms of financial management, and reports on the activities of the programme are published regularly.
The core function of the NRGP in the fields of treatment, education, training and research are outlined in detail on the organisation’s own website (www.responsiblegambling.co.za) but there are certain highlights which will be of interest to NGB stakeholders.
Public service advertising
A major project undertaken over the period under review, was the launch and the subsequent implementation of the new awareness campaign aimed at less affluent South Africans. This R1.5-million initiative, which was jointly sponsored by the National Gambling Board and the NRGP, was specifically aimed at lower income earners.
To reach this audience, a multi-faceted campaign was developed around primarily taxis, buses, trains and other elements of the commuter media, and also in the radio and print media serving this market.
The campaign was built around role models promoting a responsible gambling message, with boxing hero Dingaan Thobela, football great Mark Fish, and TV stars Connie Ferguson and Vusi Kunene appearing in public service advertisements and giving interviews to the press.
On behalf of the NGB, Mr Themba Marasha and Chairperson Chris Fismer spoke at a media launch in June 2007. The campaign received positive media coverage.
The NRGP has been fortunate in garnering support from leading advertising agencies and students at graphic art and design colleges, who have produced many imaginative and creative campaigns that have garnered recognition at the annual Vuka Awards. This has resulted in many ‘free’ placements to augment the minimum number covered by the NRGP’s relatively small advertising budget.
Public education
National Schools Programme
The Schools programme originally pioneered in the Western Cape in 2002 and extended to Gauteng in 2004, has developed into a national schools programme, which is in its pilot phase of introduction in KwaZulu-Natal during March 2008.
The first phase is aimed at grades 7 to 9 (13 to 15 year-olds, at the age when adolescents start exploring various forms of high-risk behaviour, coupled with the need for greater independence in decision-making relating to how they spend their leisure time. The next phase of grades 10-12 will build on the material and content of the first phase and start to introduce money management skills.
The teaching and learning resource package, called ‘Taking Risks Wisely’ has been developed within the legislated structure and prescribed requirements of the SA Revised National Curriculum Statement and the Outcomes Based Education framework. The aim is to make the teacher’s task easier, providing clear scripting and material for lessons, transparencies, learning activity sheets and answer sheets, as well as a comic book and a CD ROM which is also intended for posting on the Internet for wider accessibility.
Provincial Schools Programme
In the Western Cape and Gauteng, thanks to the injection of additional funding from those provincial governments, high school children have been treated to an entertaining industrial theatre show illustrating the pitfalls of problem gambling among youth.
Since its inception in the Western Cape, more than 55 000 learners at 166 schools have participated in the programme which was funded by the Western Cape Government’s Department of Social Development. During the last financial year (2007/8) the tally was 16 042 learners at 26 schools.
Since 2004 more than 85 000 learners at 154 schools in Gauteng have participated in the programme, which again was funded by the Gauteng Gambling Board and the Gauteng Provincial Government’s Department of Economic Development. During the past financial year (2007/8) alone the tally was 27 822 learners at 49 schools.
Community Outreach Initiatives
The NRGP has also implemented a community outreach project directed at social groups who are considered to be particularly vulnerable to problem gambling behaviour – youth and senior citizens.
This has involved public speaking engagements and video presentations on responsible gambling at senior citizens’ clubs, community and women’s groups, as well as trained facilitators handing out leaflets at public exhibitions, corporate wellness days and shows.
Since 2004 NRGP facilitators have also visited about 500 AllPay paypoints, educating and handing out leaflets to more than 160 000 beneficiaries of old age pensions and social grants.
Research
The National Centre for the Study of Gambling (NCSG), directed by leading academics at the Universities of Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal, is helping to build and secure SA’s capacity for continuously enhancing our understanding of gambling behaviour, with a view to improved prevention and treatment of problem gambling.
During the past year, under the leadership of Professor Don Ross of UCT, 20 researchers have participated in varied activities supported by the NRGP.
Work is presently being conducted on the relationship between poverty and gambling as part of an extensive study of gambling behaviour in a rural KwaZulu-Natal community. This is closely integrated with prevalence and longitudinal studies of South African gambling behaviour at the national level, which will be one of the most advanced investigations ever done in the world. This will confirm SA’s place in the ranks of the small group of countries that constitute the forefront of shared international knowledge on “how best to implement and sustain responsible gambling”.
Other studies currently being conducted by the NCSG includes the investigation of the way in which the brain compares present and future rewards using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The aim is to design a brain-scanning task that will allow researchers to test the impact of education and reminders about true gambling odds on the brain activity of people while they are gambling.
The NRGP continues to publish and disseminate the Responsible Gambling Digest, a monthly electronic newsletter which provides readers with a broad overview of international developments in the study and treatment of problem gambling.
In March 2008, MIT Press (Cambridge, Massachusetts) published a major book written by four members of the NCSG team, based on their work for the NRGP. This work, called Midbrain Mutiny: The Picoeconomics and Neuroeconomics of Disordered Gambling, by Don Ross, Carla Sharp, Rudy Vuchinich and David Spurrett, has been predicted to “soon become the standard work for understanding the neuroscientific basis of gambling disorders” by Professor Warren K. Bickel, Mills Chair of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Prevention, and Director of the Center for Addiction Research at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
A lay report on the poverty, prevalence, panel and fMRI studies for industry, regulators, treatment professionals and the general public will be produced later in 2008 to be followed by scientific papers that will be published in journals for the professional research and treatment community in South Africa and abroad.
Treatment and Counselling
In the period under review, two new treatment innovations were introduced: one was the development of continuing care groups in those centres where such a service is not available, and the other entailed clients being referred by treatment professionals for debt counselling – often a critical first step towards problem gamblers regaining control of their lives.
Multilingual treatment is now available from the NRGP’s network of 65 treatment professionals based in 48 towns and cities of South Africa.
Problem gambling counselling line
The NRGP’s progress may be measured by the growth in the number of people who know about the programme and so the growth in the number of those seeking help. Last year 3 632 callers consulted the counselling line staff.
Since inception of the NRGP in 2000, about 25 740 calls have been received by the tollfree problem gambling counselling line and about 8 795 callers were referred for free treatment by a medical/treatment professional – approximately 90 a month. A further 2 818 callers have been assisted telephonically.
Training initiatives
Another major occurrence in the period under review was the visit to Southern Africa by three leading international experts to address a conference of African gambling regulators in Blantyre: Professor Robert Ladouceur of Laval University in Canada, Keith Whyte the executive director of the US-based National Council on Problem Gambling, and Downing Street advisor and industry expert Mr Marc Etchers.
Later in Southern Africa, they addressed the NRGP Winter seminar which was well attended by representatives from government and the regulator community, industry, and NGOs and other interested parties. Professor Ladouceur also conducted a workshop on new trends in treatment strategies for more than 30 professionals from the NRGP’s treatment network.
The NRGP continued its basic and advanced courses training 1 659 staff at all levels in the casino industry, 233 bookmakers and tote operators attached to horse racing, 27 in the Limited Payout Machine (LPM) sector, as well as regulators and 794 health care workers. In addition, the NRGP participated in numerous employee wellness programmes, and trained counsellors for the Islamic care line, AllPay facilitators and HR practitioners.
The total number of people trained during the period March 2007 to February 2008 is 3 285.
Empowerment initiatives
The NRGP takes Black Economic Empowerment principles very seriously and subscribes to the nationally acknowledged Targeted Access Programme (TAP) protocols. These specify empowerment targets in terms of procurement, outsourcing, recruitment and other relevant criteria, and provide a mechanism for auditing and monitoring the NRGP’s performance against those targets.
The NRGP regularly exceeds the TAP empowerment targets: about 69% of all its procurement was placed with the PDI sector (against a target of 33%), while 77% of the NRGP’s network of treatment professionals, counsellors, clinical psychologists and facilitators are HDSA (historically disadvantaged South Africans). The NRGP also retains the services of many key contractors from the emerging sectors, including empowerment companies.
