As our planet prepares for President Trump’s coming New World Order, it’s refreshing to note that not every business is rolling back its commitment to ESG, that all-important acronym for the Environment, Social and Governance, which embraces and encapsulates sustainable business progress.
At the iGaming fore are Swedish-origin Betsson, digital gambling and safe iGaming pioneers, who have been ahead of the ESG curve for almost a decade.
Their ESG team, led by Roland Glasfors, Vice-president of Communications and Investor Relations with special responsibility for Sustainability and ESG, and Jonna Danlund, Head of ESG, are too canny to be drawn on any controversial comments on The Donald. But they’re happy to hammer home the bottom line benefits.
To paraphrase a previous U.S. president: “It’s good for business. Stupid!”
“In most of our markets, we are already operating in a heavily-regulated environment. Regulation is coming. It’s a fact of iGaming life.
“And we here at Betsson play the long game. We think ESG is important business, and likewise important for business,” asserts Jonna, who joined the Scandinavian playmakers in 2017.
Progress
“Responsible gambling is super important,” stresses Roland. “It’s important for society. For players. And for employees. Looking after your customers and your own people is nothing new. It’s old school business.”
Roland and Jonna were being interviewed yesterday, Monday, in the crisp, invigorating atmosphere of ICE Barcelona, Spain’s great City of Light and enlightenment, the city of Gaudi, Miro, Dali and home to the fabulous Museu(m) Picasso.
Progress is nothing new for Betsson.
The company’s long-standing CEO and inspirational leader Pontus Lindwall insisted in 2017 that Betsson initiate climate compensation for all business travel, for example.
And Betsson have continued this pro-active ESG thrust in markets where environmental, social and governance protocols are not yet mandatory.
Argentina, where Betsson is currently operating in the capital city of Buenos Aires and the provinces of Buenos Aires and Córdoba, is a case in point.
As yet there are no mandatory financial betting limits in the three individually regulated iGaming territories but the company still gives great import to online tools that can help players self-impose spending limits.
Making Money
Nevertheless, cautions Roland, regulation itself has to be “sustainable”.
“The [bad] market is only one click away. The more severe is compliance, the more severe is competition from [un-regulated] off-shore,” he underlines.
In recent times Betsson has won a number of international “ESG Strategy of The Year” awards.
“To really mean something it has to be applied.
“We can’t do everything everywhere ourselves. It has to happen out there.”
Both ESG and the so-called Millennium Development Goals are inextricably linked, concur the top Betsson executives.
It’s about the hard-headed business of making money.
“And without money there can be no development.”
