Taking action: Responses
Following our call to action from members, in the Winter 2015 issue of
Townswoman and here on the website, Shifnal TG has been in touch with the results of their efforts. They contacted eleven companies in all, four by email and seven by letter: Betfair, Betfred, Bet 365, Bet Victor, Betway, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, William Hill, Mecca Bingo, Sky Casino (including Sky Vegas and Sky Bet) and Titanbet Poker. Amongst their findings, they discovered:
- Most companies made it very difficult to contact them, having online chat, phone or email contacts only for those with queries to do with their gambling. Some ‘buried’ contact details in obscure parts of their websites. Two companies which were not contacted (Coral and 888 Sports) were based in Gibraltar and offered no means of contacting except by post. Titanbet Poker were noted as having contact details easier to find than most; however:
- Seven of the companies contacted, including Titanbet Poker, gave no response at all. Betway and Ladbrokes sent only automated email responses which were never then followed up on; a second email to Ladbrokes earned a response saying only that they were "unable to comment".
- William Hill and Mecca, both of whom were contacted by letter, came out top of the list; both sent very comprehensive replies including leaflets, brochures and a report from the Advertising Standards Authority. Though this material was retained by the Guild, they have sent copies of the response letters to TGHQ which you can view below:
Letter from Mecca
Letter from William Hill
The Guild also found that the companies' websites did offer good sections on Responsible Gambling, but that these were dependent on someone making the choice to look at those sections while the company home pages were emblazoned with large adverts for their latest offers and deals.
TG would love to be able to expand on this news item with results from other Guilds and individuals so please if you haven't already, consider taking action and let Rhiannon at TGHQ know what you find.
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