Legal sports betting continues to expand in the United States offering sports fans the new opportunities to engage with their favorite teams and leagues. With the legal sports betting industry now live in 31 jurisdictions, the commitment to bringing leagues, media, and new stakeholders together to educate bettors is more important than ever.

With the American Gaming Association (AGA) leading the way in bringing responsibility to the forefront of the sports betting industry, stakeholders continue to evolve messaging and the ways to deliver it to new bettors across the U.S.

The AGA’s public education campaign, Have A Game Plan.® Bet Responsibly.™, provides players with simple steps to help manage their betting, educate new bettors about how to bet, and explain how legal operators help to keep them safe.

The campaign is supported by major operators including BetMGM, DraftKings, Entain, FanDuel, Penn National Gaming, and Rush Street Interactive, each of whom also offer their own advice and safer gaming tools to customers. Have A Game Plan’s partners include sports leagues and teams, including the NHL, NASCAR, PGA Tour, UFC, USFL, New York Jets, New York Knicks, Washington Commanders, and the Las Vegas Golden Knights. These partnerships are crucial for communicating with fans.

Leagues and sportsbook operators have also made the commitment to invest in responsible gaming and problem gambling research. The National Football League (NFL) has not only launched their own responsible gaming educational campaign, but they have also made a multimillion-dollar, multi-year commitment to significantly expand its long-standing partnership with the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG). The NFL's funding will enable the NCPG to launch a national grant program to fund enhanced services offered by local and statewide providers, as well as innovative prevention programs, including expansion of youth-facing curricula.

Sportsbook operator, DraftKings is another great example of a stakeholder prioritizing responsible gaming. Investing more money internally to build a team dedicated to responsible gaming education, communications, and marketing, they have expanded customer touchpoints including email, social media, DraftKings retail sportsbooks, and in-stadium assets to promote AGA’s Have A Game Plan.® Bet Responsibly™ campaign.

Earlier this year, DraftKings announced a multi-year financial commitment to assist the state problem gambling councils, a part of NCPG, providing critical funding which will support the work of problem gambling research. DraftKings offered each state council $15,000 per year for three years, a total overall commitment of $1,575,000 over the span of the three-year program.

It is not only at the elite level that sports bodies are focusing on the issue. The NCAA launched a gambling harm and student-athlete protection educational program in January this year, in partnership with UK-based gambling harm minimization consultancy EPIC Risk Management.

EPIC offers insight through lived experience of gambling addiction, including ex-professional athletes. The new initiative will see EPIC make in-person education workshops and seminars, along with prerecorded sessions and on-demand virtual resources, available to all NCAA campuses and conferences. While student-athletes are the primary focus of the campaign, coaches, administrators, game officials, and healthcare and support personnel will also have access to the content.

The conversation around responsible gaming continues to grow both in the U.S. and around the globe. Be a part of it at G2E 2022, pre-register today.