The BCLC's call for a more responsible game

At the last annual conference of New Horizons in Responsible Gaming , at the end of 2020, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation ( BCLC ) requested the support and cooperation of financial institutions with a view to creating an environment of casino games safer and more responsible for the players.

The role of the BCLC

Historically, the BCLC is a state-owned company, that is to say that it holds only one shareholder, namely the Canadian province itself. She is in charge of the gambling management in Canada and in particular from :

• Set up rules of the game for lotteries and other games of chance ;
• Check the different game providers to verify that they are in compliance with the rules issued ;
• Conclude agreements relating to gambling ;
• Operate and organize games on behalf of the province.

What the BCLC asks of financial institutions

The banks are in direct contact with the gambling sites and with the players. It is therefore for this reason that the BCLC wished to request the support from financial institutions to promote a more responsible game and limit the risks of addiction of players to gambling and money games.

Jamie Wiebe , the director of the BCLC in charge of player health said: "Banks have an important role to play in helping gambling operators to better understand the relationship between their customers' expenses and gambling behaviors, which helps the gambling industry to improve our tools in response".

The tools put in place

Some institutions have already set up concrete actions to promote the well-being of the players.

For example, Monzo, an online bank based in the United Kingdom, had already implemented a system for automatically blocking the account when the player's expenses become excessive on online gambling sites.

To do this, the bank uses merchant codes in order to block transactions to the sites.

The main goal is to put in place prevention and protection actions for Canadian players.