【卡林奇访谈】全球彩票业聚焦社会责任
2010-04-28 01:01阅读：
【卡林奇访谈】全球彩票业聚焦社会责任
An Interview with Michelle Carinci,
Chief Executive Officer of Atlantic Lottery
Corporation (ALC)
Michelle Carinci is the founding
chairperson and co-chair (with Dianne Thompson) of the World
Lottery Association (WLA) Committee that built the Responsible
Gaming Framework and Certification program. ALC
continues to be a leader in Responsible Gaming (RG) and Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR). Following is a discussion
which explores how and wh
y CSR and RG continue to play such an important role in the gaming
industry.
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The gaming industry is in the midst of massive,
transformational change. At stake are questions about who
is to benefit financially from this multi-billion dollar industry,
and how are the social costs of gaming expansion to be minimized.
Operators are now expected to align with an increasingly
complex set of public interest objectives, to meet the needs of a
broad spectrum of ‘stakeholders’. Our political leaders are
formulating public and regulatory policy and assessing the ability
of operators to fulfill these increased expectations. They
are also assessing the efficacy of different operating models.
Should the state apply the monopoly model to other sectors
of the industry? Or should competition be allowed in a
‘license and regulate’ model? How much should the industry
expand, how best to optimize the benefits to society and minimize
the social costs? The amount of money involved and the
complexity of the factors affecting the public interests make
gambling quite unlike any other industry. The stakes are
huge and the public policy decisions being made now will have
long-term ramifications.
One of the results of these changes is that gaming operators
of the future will need to excel at Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) and Responsible Gaming (RG). That’s why the
membership of the World Lottery Association is raising the bar on
itself. Being proactive, integrating CSR and RG into their
company culture and every aspect of operations, anticipating the
need to meet an ever higher standard, is one of the hallmarks of
our industry leaders.
Atlantic Lottery Corporation has received numerous awards for
the manner in which it has dealt with the challenges of
communicating with stakeholders in a time of crisis. The
crisis involved intense media and government scrutiny over security
procedures at the retail transaction level. Ms. Carinci
delivered an important presentation on this topic at the WLA
global, bi-annual conference in October.
The main theme of the presentation is that you can’t
wait for a crisis to happen to improve your focus on CSR and RG.
And even without a crisis, the fact is that CSR and RG are
quickly becoming critically important competitive
differentiators.
Magazine: The regulatory environment continues to
be in quite a state of flux all around the world. What are
some of the most critical issues that you are addressing with key
stakeholders and shapers of public policy today?
Michelle Carinci: The gaming market continues to grow
and regulated lotteries continue to lose market share. Why?
Because today’s players have multiple choices beyond regulated
gaming and those choices are becoming more relevant to them.
The problem is that it is not an even competitive playing
field. Unregulated operators are expanding market share and
enriching their shareholders at the expense of the public and the
good causes which are funded by the regulated operators.
They are able to do this because they are operating under a
different set of rules and regulations than regulated operators.
If Governments wish to sustain profits from gaming for good
causes, they will need to allow lottery operators to compete on a
level playing field. Among other things (like equitable tax
burden between all gaming operators), that level playing field must
include a serious execution of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) measures which includes Responsible Gaming (RG). This
involves the creation of standards, the means to measure and
monitor performance against those standards, the political will to
hold all operators accountable to those standards, and the
mechanisms to enforce compliance to the standards. The goal
here is not to protect the regulated operators. The goal is
to protect the interests of the public and the long-term health of
the gaming industry. CSR is absolutely integral to
sustainability in the long run. But too, when integrated
into the day-to-day methods of operation, CSR does have a positive
impact to the bottom line and positive ROI for the operators.
Gaming operators need to recognize that.
Magazine: The World Lottery Association (WLA)
recognized the importance of CSR and RG some years ago. You
were among the handful of directors who got the ball
rolling.
M. Carinci: It was at the World Lottery Association
conference in 2003. In the Directors’ panel discussion,
which was moderated by Guy Simonis, we were discussing the lack of
balanced reporting in the media with regard to RG and the fact that
the special interest groups were getting a disproportionate amount
of attention from both media and stakeholders. There was
rapid growth of the wide area video lottery business and
destination gaming and the media was focusing on the negative
social impact. We were basically complaining that all the
media attention put on the negative was drowning out the positive
things that the WLA gaming operators were doing to protect the
players and the public. We saw what needed to be done and
were doing our best to implement effective Responsible Gaming
programs. Even back then we were being proactive in what we
now refer to as “harm minimization”. But it was
during this discussion that we realized the importance of
integrating a sound RG program into a more comprehensive CSR
agenda. Basically, it was in that discussion that we
realized that instead of complaining that the media was being
unfair by focusing on the negatives, we needed to do something
about it - something other than complain about biased media which
never gets us anywhere! What we needed to do was use our
Associations, the WLA and the regionals, to help its members
implement the most ambitious CSR program possible. The
scope of this effort could not be accomplished by a lone lottery
operator. We resolved to work together to build the
programs and certification processes that would elevate the level
of CSR and RG to the point that the media and our stakeholders
would recognize the positive role that their state-owned operators
performed.
Magazine: So this discussion back in 2003
sort of galvanized an initiative that turned out to be so vital to
the health of the industry. Too, this somewhat revelatory
discussion was held at a WLA Conference, it would not likely have
occurred if you had not been convened for this meeting, and is a
great example of why it is so import for the leaders of the
industry to meet as frequently as possible to share ideas and work
on problems together like that.
M. Carinci: Yes. To the WLA members’ credit,
there was almost unanimous approval for the RG principles put
forward to the membership the day after the director’s panel.
Collectively we decided to proactively set the bar as high with CSR
as we had with the security standards over a decade ago.
That was really the beginning of the WLA’s RG initiative to
develop standards that would guide our efforts to remain relevant
to our players and at the same time protect those at
risk.
This is the real benefit of WLA - the learning and
collaboration that has spearheaded initiatives to help its members
raise the bar in all different categories of performance.
The educational programs are intense and have attained a
sophisticated level of training and educating the WLA members in
virtually all areas of operations, management, strategic planning,
as well as CSR and RG. In some areas of particular
importance to the public, like Responsible Gaming, the WLA has
developed a system of certification that is recognized by
regulators and legislators as a credible measure of the operators’
level of performance capability. Another key area that has
a similar certification process is security. We identified
these two areas, security and RG, as being two of the most
foundational elements to protecting the public. The
main thing is, we decided to take action, take a leadership role in
the business of protecting the interests of the
public.
Magazine: In hindsight, your decision to
focus on RG seems pretty obvious. But I would think that at
the time it would not have been so obvious to focus public
attention and your own resources on an initiative that would not
contribute, at least not directly and not in the short-term, to
revenues and profits.
M. Carinci: Actually what did become quite obvious
was that many lottery organizations were doing significant work and
making great progress in the area of RG while others did not have
it on their radar screen. That is the benefit again of
getting together with the membership annually to discuss the ever
changing challenges and opportunities. But I would like to
focus on your point with regard to profits and CSR. There
are many great examples of companies that were early adopters of
CSR that have realized stronger customer retention and increased
attraction to new customers. In addition, employee
attraction and retention was positively impacted. David
Batstone, author of Saving the Corporate Soul, provided numerous
examples in his presentation at the WLA conference in
2004.
First, one needs to agree that Responsible Gaming is
part of a larger CSR agenda. The resolution that the WLA membership
passed calls for a comprehensive approach to aligning our
businesses with the interests of the public in absolutely
everything we do. Corporate Social Responsibility in a much
broader context should be integrated into everything we do.
That includes the design our games, how we communicate, advertise,
care for the environment, create diversity in the work
place, be great employers and give back to community through
corporate involvement… all the things that an organization can do
to promote an enlightened, progressive approach to serving the
interests of society.
At the time, this idea setting common standards was rather
radical, given the cultural, regulatory and structural differences
among the 80 different countries that are represented in the WLA.
And even now it goes to the heart of how capitalism works
and how it sometimes malfunctions. The beauty of capitalism
is the way in which everyone busily engaged in pursuing a single
minded goal that is consistent with their own interest, that of
making a profit, results in an economic activity that theoretically
benefits everyone in society as a whole. Well, the recent
melt-down of the financial services industry points at how that
simple construct may be just that – too simple. Government
regulation and a widespread embrace of CSR principles are needed in
every business including the gaming business. That’s what
the CSR initiative is about – being proactive, taking the
initiative to invest in the tools, programs, resources and research
to be a good corporate citizen on every level. It is
important to point out that many WLA organizations were already
doing this on some level. What WLA has now provided to its
members is a sound set of principles, standards and a framework to
guide an organization through the four levels, the fourth being the
highest level which requires third party audit and finally
assessment from an independent panel with representatives from
around the globe. A stellar panel indeed, and the
membership was able to benefit from their collective experience at
the last WLA conference in Greece.
Magazine: But for those tough-minded
pragmatists in the crowd, it’s also good business strategy, isn’t
it?
M. Carinci: Absolutely. The Conference Board of
Canada states that CSR has emerged as the business issue of the
21st century. The two unwavering values of integrity and
responsibility are the foundation of any successful business and
that is what CSR is really all about. Anything less than a
genuine acceptance and implementation of all the principles of CSR
will not put the operator in good stead with the public, the
player, or anyone else. The WLA membership has a
history of working closely with government, keeping its objectives
and methods of operation in alignment with the directives of the
governments. Combine that with a branded image for
integrity that a commitment to CSR has accrued and we become the
operator of choice for both the government and the public.
Excelling at CSR and RG is a strategic decision that differentiates
us from those operators who fail to meet the high standards being
set by the leaders in our industry today. Excelling
at CSR and RG gives the operator a valuable competitive advantage
that can result in increased sales and profits. That’s not
a theory or wishful thinking.
Magazine: Why now? What is the driver
of this new focus on CSR and RG?
M. Carinci: In a word – sustainability. When
you consider the changes in the lottery business over the past
decade it should not be any great surprise that the business model
on many fronts has to change. It wasn’t too long ago that
if a person wanted to play slot machines or casino games, they had
to travel somewhere to do that, we call it “destination gaming,”
meaning the person needed to make a deliberate decision to allocate
a chunk of time and money to travel to a destination to gamble in a
casino. The fact that it required that investment of time
and money was and continues to be perceived by many as a highly
effective regulator of behavior. On the other hand, you
have larger number of players spending a smaller amount on the
lottery which has mass distribution.
Today all forms of regulated and unregulated gaming are much
more accessible.
Magazine: Now, casino gambling is as
accessible as grocery shopping.
M. Carinci: Not quite but certainly a lot more
accessible. Let’s take your reference to
grocery shopping. What kinds of public policy issues needed
to be dealt with that related to the expansion of grocery stores,
or Starbucks coffee shops, or buying books or flowers on the
internet? Not much. In most industries, changes in
distribution patterns or technology can have big impacts, but not
usually creating questions of public policy, not usually affecting
society in ways that require legislative and regulatory attention.
Distributional changes in almost all economic sectors have
historically delivered benefits of efficiency and convenience to
society, with little or no controversial public policy
implications. But that’s not the case with gambling.
What we were experiencing five years ago was a major
wake-up call to the fact that serious questions of public policy
were being raised. By making it more convenient to go to a
gaming venue for just an evening, or even just an hour, we’ve
removed the distinction between recreational gaming and destination
gambling. We need to recognize the implications of
this and take the appropriate actions to ensure a healthy evolution
towards a new industry model.
Magazine: Do our political leaders understand
the significance of these issues?
M. Carinci: I think that awareness is growing.
The reality is that the gaming industry has expanded
dramatically over the past five years, but the highly regulated
organizations and lotteries have not. In other words the gaming
“pie” is growing but the regulated lottery organizations share is
shrinking. This is not a trend line that is good for either the
public or governments. Public policy decisions are
what determine that trend line. Therefore, there is a real
need for thoughtful decision making and assertive policy making on
a timely basis. In fact, some may even argue that it is too
late, but I think not.
Yes there has been a tremendous growth in gaming over the
internet and the virtual world. The popularity of Texas
Hold really speaks to the fact that players have choices now and
will go where they can get the desired experience. Players
have choices today they never had before. And as we all
know, the revenue is not going to the benefit of the communities
these players live in but into a black hole offshore.
So, to ensure that players are protected and revenues
continue to flow to good causes, all operators need to be licensed,
regulated and acting in the best interest of the public and as
importantly allow the current lottery operators (that have operated
responsibly and successfully for decades) to compete on a level
playing field. That will mean changes in the business model and in
some jurisdictions a change in legislation. What is also
required is an acknowledgement that lottery organizations can
continue to offer what the players want and at the same time be
socially responsible. There are so many examples of this in
other industries. We have not done a good enough job of
educating the stakeholders on all the good work our organizations
do and overcoming the notion that operators can’t genuinely be
responsible while in pursuit of revenue generation for good causes.
Automobile manufacturers put airbags and seatbelts in their
products, the alcohol industry invests and partners in responsible
drinking campaigns. Gaming is no different – operators
understand that how the revenue is made is as important as how much
is made, thus over the years we have developed RG initiatives
around education and prevention.
Magazine: Is there ambivalence on the part of
government and the beneficiaries of the revenues about whether to
do things, like increasing RG, that might diminish those
revenues?
M. Carinci: No. The focus is on protecting
the public and that will not be compromised. Reflect upon
why governments got involved in gaming to begin with.
It wasn’t because they thought they should be in the gaming
and entertainment business, or even to raise revenue for good
causes; they saw the need to exercise oversight and be directly
involved in order to ensure that the public was protected through
public policy. The government’s primary objective was, and
I would like to think it continues to be, to satisfy the public’s
need to game with responsible products in a secure
environment through regulated gaming, and of course to keep
the money at home for good causes. The ‘how’ is still more
important than the ‘how much’.
CSR( and RG) are actually the foundation of a profitable
long-term business strategy. That’s because long-term
profitability depends on an organizations commitment to operating
in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner
while protecting the interest of its stakeholders. People,
Planet and Profit. Organizations clearly demonstrating
their commitment to all three will win on all fronts; the war for
talent, the share of the players wallet and the trust and respect
of the pubic and shareholders. CSR is an
integral part of your brand value, the best approach to optimizing
long-term profitability.
According to Bob Willard, author of “The Sustainability
Advantage” and leading expert on the business value of corporate
sustainability strategies, the bottom line benefits are: tangible
reduced recruiting and attrition costs, increased employee
productivity, reduced expenses at commercial sites, increased
revenue/market share and lower insurance and borrowing
costs.
Magazine: The private operators in the
Internet online gaming world do not seem to be embracing CSR in
quite the same way as the WLA membership is. They mount
legal battles to prevent governments from exercising their right to
control the industry, and when they lose those legal battles, they
just pack up and go to another more tax and regulation friendly
jurisdiction.
M. Carinci: It’s not just Internet, it is the whole
virtual world that isn’t constrained by geographical boundaries, so
that includes cell phones and all sorts media. I am
confident that the policy makers around the world will succeed at
getting things under control. We now know that there are
ways to regulate gaming in the virtual world. It can
definitely be done and it is being recognized that it is important
that all forms of gaming must be regulated and that all operators
must comply with all laws and the highest standards. But to
the point of your question, of course the WLA membership would hope
that our commitment to CSR and RG will be recognized as a valuable
part of what we bring to the table as operators. To put it
bluntly, nobody would have these regulatory and tax harmonization
problems if the governments implemented Internet gaming through
their government owned organizations. Compliance and player
protection would be a non-issue in addition to the public
benefitting from the revenues. Even if licenses were given
to multiple operators in far-flung locations all around the globe,
it can still be regulated to comply with the standards and laws of
each country. Governments can and should compel
everyone to play by the same rules, paying taxes and providing the
most effective RG tools.
Magazine: The thing is, as Dr. Wortmann
explained in our October issue, it will be very hard to put the
toothpaste back in the tube. Shapers of public policy
really need to be moving more quickly to be sure they preserve a
regulatory framework that protects the public.
M. Carinci: It is actually much more complicated than
the simple question of who should own and who should operate the
games. Government is asserting its rightful role as
regulator. But the WLA membership is typically held to a
completely different standard than private operators. That
applies to lots of different aspects of doing business.
There are the obvious ones of turning over a larger portion of the
revenues to government and good causes, along with being held to
the highest standards of CSR and security which we are pleased and
proud to uphold. But there are other standards that
regulated operators are held to that do not allow for a level
playing field. Again, the unregulated operators are
not held to these same standards. Where are the assurances that
they are operating in the best interests of the
public?
The bottom line is that gaming is growing, regulated lottery
organizations’ share is shrinking, and stakeholders are in a great
position to once again intervene and regulate that which is not
regulated to ensure sustainability for the players and the
public in the future. We have the luxury of a strong World Lottery
Association to set the appropriate standards for the future and to
continue to provide a forum for learning.
