The Responsible Gaming Independent Assessment Panel
The Responsible Gaming Independent Assessment Panel
Submitting member lotteries will be certified to the WLA Responsible Gaming Framework (RGF) with the help of an independent assessment panel. This panel is comprised of a selection of international experts from the field of corporate social responsibility. As an independent body the Responsible Gaming Independent Assessment Panel (RGIAP) will review all submissions for the RGF levels 2–4 and will forward their certification recommendations to the WLA. Through the knowledge and expertise of the RGIAP, the WLA has a reliable and competent partner to aid them in evaluating all submissions and to help them render a correct and precise decision on certification. Their suggestions will also help submitting lotteries to optimize and continually improve their responsible gaming programs.
The panel will do four things:
- Assess the information provided by the lottery.
- Assess the quality of the assurance provided.
- Designate the level the lottery has accomplished.
- Give feedback to the lottery on their performance.
The Panel members include:
Maria Sillanpaa RGIAP Chair (Finland)
John Luff (UK)
Ines Garcia Pintos Balbás (Spain)
Henry Chan (Hong Kong)
Maria Sillanpaa
Maria Sillanpaa is the Chair of the Responsible Gaming Independent Assessment Panel and an internationally recognized corporate responsibility and sustainability practitioner. Prior to founding Sustainability Advisory Group, she held pivotal roles at The Body Shop International, KPMG and AccountAbility and during her 20+ year career has focused especially on sustainability strategy and programme development, stakeholder analysis and engagement, and reporting and assurance. Maria has made instrumental contributions to various sustainability standards and initiatives – notably the AA1000 Assurance and Stakeholder Engagement Series of Standards. She sat on the founding board of Ethical Trading Initiative and was a member of Global Reporting Initiative’s Technical Advisory Committee from 2005 to 2010.
Maria is one of the pioneering corporate responsibility reporting practitioners internationally. She was responsible for the methodology development of the trailblazing reports by The Body Shop in the 1990s and has since helped numerous organizations with their strategy design, stakeholder engagement, reporting and assurance journeys. She has worked with clients across a wide variety of sectors, on all continents and in over 20 countries. A selection of her clients includes AVIVA, BBC, The Co-operative Group, The Gap Inc, ING Bank, Nike, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sainsbury’s, Samsung, Shell, Siemens, The Body Shop International, and Westfield. Her publications include The Stakeholder Corporation – A Blueprint for Maximizing Stakeholder Value, endorsed by global leaders as a seminal work. She was ranked number three in the advisory category of CSR International’s Global Top 100 CSR leaders in 2009 and in 2011 nominated as one of the 100 sustainability thought leaders in Europe and MENA by Trust America and Centre for Sustainability & Excellence.
John Luff
John Luff, an expert on branding and sustainability, specialises in helping organisations identify and promote their brand and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability credentials. John is a frequent speaker worldwide on the topics of brand, marketing, CSR, sustainability and communications. He founded UK based Sustainable Marketing in 2004. Previously John was Head of Global CSR and Head of Global Brand for BT (British Telecom). In these roles he helped BT achieve its 3rd top rating on the DOW Jones Sustainability Index – the first time BT had achieved this on a global basis. He developed the brand positioning for BT and its joint ventures worldwide. He is proud to have lead BT sponsorship of the Global Challenge - “The World’s Toughest Yacht Race”. Other senior roles have been in the fields of occupational psychology and organisational development.
John Luff is an alumnus of the prestigious Prince of Wales Business and the Environment programme. He is an associate faculty member of the British Chartered Institute of Marketing, a Founding member of the Superbrands CSR Advisory Panel, a judge for the Green Awards and Responsible Marketing advisor to the World Lotteries’ Association. Recent/current clients include the World and European Lotteries Associations, the UK Treasury, the world’s largest retailer, one of Europe’s largest shopping malls, major financial institutions, major construction companies, sponsorship advisors, Business Schools, telecoms, IT and TV brands, cities, government and global sustainability organisations.
Inés García Pintos Balbás
Inés García Pintos Balbás is an economist and corporate social responsibility specialist. She is the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation for the Confederation of the Spanish Savings Banks. She also chairs Spainsif, the Spanish Social Investment Forum. She is a member of several national and international comittees and working groups, among others the GRI Stakeholder Council and Eurosif Board. She specializes in banking CSR issues and is familiar with other industry material topics due to her participation in private sector working groups. She has a comprehensive knowledge of European CSR policy issues and related topics. She is also familiar with the Latin American markets, both for personal and professional reasons.
Henry Chan
Mr Henry Chan has over 35 years in the lottery industry and was the Executive Director, Betting of the Hong Kong Jockey Club for over 20 years. He was the elected Vice Chairman of the Asia Pacific Lottery Association at its founding in 2000 and was appointed to the New Media/Cross Border Committee of the World Lottery Association in 2001. He was elected Chairman of the Asia Pacific Lottery Association in 2004 and was re-elected for a second term in 2006. He also served on the Executive Committee of the World Lottery Association from 2004 to 2012. He was elected Vice President of the World Lottery Association in 2008 and Senior Vice President in 2010.




