Should you link Responsible Gambling badges

[universal4]

I do know there will likely be a number of differing opinions centered around this but would like to try and understand the opposing sides to this.

Based on a lot of reviews of sites and portals a trend I have been seeing a lot of lately are affiliates adding the seals, badges and logos or artwork from the responsible gambling authorities are help organizations around the world. (for the sake of the discussion, let's just term them badges to reflect any of them)

Which one is used might slightly change depending on the target market or geo of the site, with a few being more common than others.

I think that this is actually a good thing, and it surely has been increasing the last few years. I have also noticed that many more sites are including pages dedicated to responsible gambling etc.


Gamcare, begambleaware, Ga (gamblers anonymous) and many others.

Now the bad trend:
Additionally, a trend I have noticed among some affiliates is the use of the badges and them NOT being linked to the help organizations or respective agencies as they should be.

The fact that you fly the badge in an of itself, and then NOT link it properly does not show compliance IMO at all. Also, in many cases the artwork or badge you are using, at the very least has a copyright, and for an affiliate to use the artwork and then not link it is not cool, and is possibly an infringement violation.

And for those that write a page talking about responsible gambling, and then not provide any resource links at all, (IMO) is not responsible.

We have seen recent trends with some of the licensing authorities demanding that in order to be compliant the links must exist. We have also seen reports of their displeasure with affiliates or sites that specifically target players that might be seeking help or "casinos not on gamstop".

Obviously some sites that only target off-shore casinos etc may not necessarily need to comply and add the gamcare or begambleaware artwork, but if you add it, "link it".

There is actually a lot more to the discussion, and some points I may add later, but am interested in getting a general feel for the discussion and see how it progresses.

Rick
Universal4

/side note: At no point is this discussion meant to target anyone or any site, so let's keep it to the topic and not single out any portal url in any way.

[dannyx]

I personally do not have a logo of the organization, I only have a link in the footer with a description. It would be strange not to have a link and a picture alone, but I have also encountered something like this.

Offshore sites may not require this from partners but they themselves have such links on their sites, at least from the sites I remember about.
For this there should be an age restriction, also you can include this in the footer.

However, I never thought about this topic. I just added it automatically.

Admittedly not on topic, but I also wondered if it makes sense to add in the footer of the DMCA.
I've never added it to my sites myself, but I've seen it on several GPWA user sites.

Back on topic. I think it can have a positive effect on the authority of the site.

[TheGooner]

Hah! I've gone the other way. I have links to these sites without any images.

My GoonersGuide site has a responsible gambling page that is linked from many pages.
I created it about 3-4 years ago and went around finding links to organisations for different countries etc, there was no "approved" method.

I've never even thought about looking for related logos or images.

However, regarding the OP : I don't see any issue if people don't want to have a link / or haven't got one.
Using a logo will provide some sort of recognition especially if paired with helpful info.

[NoDepositCasinos]

It doesn't make sense to me to add the badges without linking them to the respective organizations; it doesn't even show compliance, in my opinion. The only plausible explanation I can come up with is carelessness or a lack of knowledge.

Including the badges with their respective links requires no additional effort other than a couple of clicks.

[statsdrone]

A good one worth consideration is betblocker.org which is a registered charity in Scotland and requires no registration and no payments.

[JimKnight88]

Yeah I think if you're wanting to help the users on your site, linking these badges makes a lot of sense, especially as much of the focus is on internal linking strategy, rather than external links of real use for those spending time on the site.