GROUND-BREAKING INDUSTRY CODE OF CONDUCT SIGNED

Casino Industry Pledges Itself To Promote Responsible Gambling

[Cape Town, Sunday 13 November 2005] South Africa’s casino sector, one of the first globally to so do outside the United States, has signed the country’s first-ever nationally-applicable gambling industry code of conduct.

CASA chief executive, Derek Auret, making the announcement today, said that CASA’s new chairman would lead a substantial industry which had created nearly 100 000 direct and indirect new jobs over the past nine years. Annually it contributed over R1.7 billion in taxation to the public sector, and since 1996, had been responsible for more than R12 billion in new investment.

From left: Steven Joffe (CE, Gold Reef City Resorts), Jeremy Franklin (CE, Tusk Resorts), Jabu Mabuza (CE, Tsogo Sun) Seated: Derek Auret (CE, CASA), Peter Bacon (Chairman, CASA and CE, Sun International)

Making the announcement in Cape Town today, Casino Association (CASA) chairman, Peter Bacon, said that the code of conduct would bind all casinos in South Africa to “demanding protocols” designed to promote a culture of responsible gambling in the country.

“CASA’s members are employers, property owners and taxpayers and place the highest priority on the obligations of corporate citizenship and social responsibility.

“This code of conduct is a social contract with the people of South Africa and it binds our members to a number of far-reaching measures that underpin our already-stringent responsible gambling policies”.

CASA represents South Africa’s licensed casino industry. In just eight years this new industry has been responsible for more than R12-billion in new investment in all nine provinces, adding more than R36-billion to GDP in terms of economic multipliers. The industry has created almost 100 000 direct and indirect jobs, and in 2003/2004 alone accounted for nearly R2.7-billion to government revenue. In addition, the casino industry has substantially advanced transformation in the tourism and leisure sector.

CASA chief executive, Derek Auret, said that the new code, the first in the leisure industry in South Africa to be nationally-applicable, had its genesis in the commitment of CASA members to the social goals and obligations which were implicit in the casino industry’s public accountability in respect of its licenses to trade.

“This comprehensive code covers issues as various as advertising standards, measures to prevent under-age gambling, policies on the sale of alcohol, and funding for and co-operation with the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP), among others. It unambiguously defines our adherence as an industry to appropriately high standards of conduct and social probity.

“Moreover, it compliments our other social commitments in respect of corporate social investment, transformation and human resource development.

“This past year, for example, our members invested over R87-million in CSI spending, and we contribute some R6-million annually to the promotion of responsible gambling through public education, free medical treatment for problem gamblers, and research into the incidence of problem gambling and ways to deal with this phenomenon.

“In terms of transformation, 60 % of voting control in our sector on average is now in empowerment hands, and an effective 38 % economic interest. This substantially exceeds other comparable industries”.

Mr Auret said that South Africa’s new casino industry had done much to stimulate new investment, encourage tourism, create jobs, and give opportunities to South Africans who were previously excluded from the mainstream economy. This was why, he said, independent research showed that almost 75% of South Africans approve of a regulated industry.

“And while it is common cause that, for most people, gambling is a harmless recreational pursuit, it is equally true that a small minority can and do develop problems with their gambling, and everyone, in both the private and public sector, who has an interest in the health of the industry, has an concomitant interest in dealing with this issue”.

The casino sector in South Africa, mindful of these obligations, joined with government regulators in 2002 to create the National Responsible Gambling Programme (NRGP). It was recognised early on that if the NRGP was to be credible, effective and independent of any sectoral interest, it should be established as a public/private sector partnership which integrated the concerns, insights and resources of government regulators and the industry.

In the past three years, the NRGP has provided free, professional medical treatment to over 3 000 problem gamblers, and its toll-free counselling line has telephonically assisted a further 3 000. It provides a 24/7 multi-lingual counselling service, and its treatment network extends to 34 towns and cities in each of South Africa’s nine provinces.

Some 11 000 industry workers have received training in the issues surrounding problem gambling, and since 2003, nearly 58 000 learners at 163 South African schools have participated in NRGP education projects. The programme’s research division has also conducted the two largest independent research studies ever undertaken in Africa into gambling trends and behaviour.

Gambling industry analyst and academic, Professor Peter Collins, executive director of the National Centre for the Study of Gambling at UCT, and director of the Centre for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at Salford University in Manchester, said that the new code would further enhance the international credibility of South Africa’s casino industry and its policy framework.

“South Africa has been at the forefront of new thinking in the global gambling industry on key social issues such as problem gambling, for both regulators and industry in this country recognise that the sustainability of good public policy, and equally the industry’s commercial prospects, depend on being trusted to meet society’s expectations,” said Collins.

For further information, please contact Derek Auret on 082 5576566.