Enterprise Risk Management in the lottery and gaming sector
Enterprise Risk Management is about thinking ahead, drawing-up different scenarios, evaluating potential impacts and, most importantly, being aware of the risks. Raising the awareness on Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and providing information to initiate or update plans to recognize and anticipate risks, thereby minimizing their impact, is among the goals of the WLA Security and Risk Management Committee (SRMC).
What has happened and continues to transpire in 2020, regarding the Covid-19 outbreak, has shown us the importance of a good understanding of risks. Being prepared to address a crisis and try to reduce the impact on employees, partners and players is crucial for the lottery and sports betting industries.
In November 2010 Oswald Grübel, CEO of UBS declared “Risk is our business. I can assure you, as long as I’m here, and as long as my colleagues are here, we know about risks”. Ten months later the Bank had to announce losses of $ 2.3 billion due to fraud. Risks should never be underestimated and get prepared to address critical situation is decisive to avoid disruptive times.
We are in the middle of a wake-up call for the future. Reshaping organizations, reviewing processes, innovating products, and modifying cost and capital investment priorities, together with customer engagement in the new normal, are the immediate operational challenges facing the lottery industry. Risk Management must be taken into consideration and, in doing so, we must think out of the box to mitigate risks and get prepared to face any critical situation that may arise in the future.
WLA survey
In the summer 2020 the WLA has conducted the survey “Risk management in the lottery sector” among its lottery and sports betting members. The aim was to have an industry-wide picture of risk perception and priorities. It resulted that the risk management culture is widespread in the lottery and gaming sector.
Responders demonstrated also to have an optimistic view of the controls identified to mitigate the impact of risks. Nonetheless, in terms of application, only one third of the responders who declared to have a Business Continuity Plan, could affirm that the plan was effective to address the pandemic.
Here below you can download the entire Report drafted by Lottomatica (Italy), Camelot UK (United Kingdom) and FDJ (France).
