Allwyn appoints Entain’s gambling-harm adviser to bid team
Sazka Group’s UK-facing National Lottery bid brand adds safer gambling expert Dr Mark Griffiths to board
Sazka Group’s UK-facing Allwyn brand has appointed Dr Mark Griffiths to its advisory board as it bids for the fourth National Lottery licence.
Griffiths, a psychologist and professor of behavioural addiction at Nottingham Trent University, will work closely with bid chair Sir Keith Mills and advise on issues concerning player protection safeguards and gambling addiction.
Griffiths has spent more than 20 years as the director of the International Gaming Unit at Nottingham Trent and has 34 years’ of academic study under his belt.
Sazka Group already uses software developed by Griffiths known as Mentor throughout Europe which utilises personal messages to notify users of unusual changes in their playing behaviour and suggests what steps can be made.
Griffiths joins the likes of Twitter UK MD Dara Nasr, former Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King and lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman on the special advisory board.
Griffiths said: “I embrace advisory roles because I believe it’s the most effective way to improve swift intervention by forging closer collaboration between operators, charities, campaigners and experts.
“I’m partnering with Allwyn because their sister companies have proven to be industry leaders on player protection across Europe, while their early backing of raising The National Lottery’s age limit demonstrated their serious engagement with the UK regulatory environment,” he added.
Mills added: “Dr Mark Griffiths is one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of gambling addiction and player protection, and his insight will be invaluable to our bid.
“By appointing Dr Griffiths to our advisory board, we will continue to set the standard on player protection in the industry, and I look forward to working with him and the rest of our fantastic team to present a plan that makes the National Lottery both exciting and safe for all its players,” he concluded.
In November 2020, FTSE 100 gambling operator Entain appointed Griffiths as a special adviser on player protection and safer gambling issues, where he audits the firm’s policies and responsible gambling processes.