‘Of course we make money, but it has to be in a responsible way’: Safer gambling practices reported by state-owned gambling operators

Gambling can be regulated in different ways, with some jurisdictions having competitive markets of privately-owned operators, some jurisdictions having state-owned operators that have exclusive legal monopolies, and in other jurisdictions former state-owned monopolies now compete in markets against privately-owned operators. While privately-owned operators tend to emphasize gamblers’ individual responsibility while implementing suboptimal voluntary harm-prevention measures, less is known about the safer gambling practices of state-owned gambling operators, a topic which we aim to contribute to here. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants employed in safer gambling roles at state-owned gambling operators in 10 jurisdictions, with transcripts then subjected to thematic and discourse-based analyses. Participants constructed distinctive identities for their organizations. State-owned operators were portrayed as being uniquely capable of balancing profit with consumer protection, of building consumer trust, and in pioneering in harm reduction. The safer gambling practices of privately owned operators were described as ‘performative’, whereas state-owned operators emphasized a more ‘authentic’ approach. This included making safer gambling tools accessible, proactively contacting customers experiencing harm, and implementing operator-driven limits based on risk profiles. When discussing competitive market dynamics, participants challenged dominant narratives about illegal gambling markets. Participants criticized excessive marketing practices by private operators and advocated for system-wide approaches to harm prevention rather than fragmented ones. The perspectives from state-owned gambling operators should be integrated into new harm-prevention approaches for today’s online and interconnected gambling world.