Responsible gambling

At Rank, we believe that gambling should be a fun and social form
of entertainment.

Nevertheless, we recognise that a small proportion of people may find it difficult to control their gambling activities.

We have put in place a system of measures to minimise the incidence of problem gambling in our businesses and to support our employees in managing it when it does occur.

Rank is committed to upholding the three licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005:

• protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling;
• preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime; and
• ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way.

Oversight

The following procedures have been put in place to guide our responsible gambling policies:

• bi-annual discussions at meetings of the Rank board;
• bi-annual discussions at Rank’s Audit committee meetings;
• quarterly meeting of responsible gambling review committee; and
• quarterly meeting of anti-money laundering review committee.

In addition, our senior managers are encouraged to invest time in liaising with those organisations that provide counselling and support for people with gambling-related problems.

The Great Foundation

Rank is a supporter of The Great Foundation, formerly known as the Responsibility in Gambling Trust (‘RIGT’), which provides funding for problem-gambling charities, including GamCare, Gamblers Anonymous and Gordon House.

For 2008, the Group donated £257,593 to RIGT. For future years we have given a minimum annual funding commitment of £250,000 for the purposes of research, education and treatment initiatives in relation to problem gambling in Great Britain until 31 March 2012 (subject to a limited number of conditions).

Accreditation

Each of Rank’s UK-facing businesses, Mecca Bingo, Mecca Games, Grosvenor Casinos and Rank Interactive has now achieved accreditation from GamCare. GamCare certification is awarded to online and land-based gambling companies that have implemented robust responsible gambling policies. The GamCare kitemark is an independent recognition of Rank’s high standards of social responsibility and player protection.

Employee training

A major programme of employee training is a key element of our strategy to minimise and manage the incidence of problem gambling in our businesses. This training is delivered remotely, via our computer-based training (CBT) system and in face-to-face sessions. Since the programme was introduced in September 2006, we have delivered approximately 13,200 hours of CBT training to our people.

In addition, 300 managers at Grosvenor and Mecca have received around 1,800 hours of face-to-face training. In 2009, we will introduce a comprehensive programme of responsible gambling policy testing for all customer-facing employees in Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo.

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