The National Council on Problem Gambling and the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries have awarded the recognition.

US.- Washington’s Lottery has announced it has achieved the highest level of responsible gambling certification in the US. It was certified for “Responsible Gambling Verification Best Practices at the Sustaining Level” by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) and the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL).

It is the third state lottery to achieve the milestone after Virginia and Ohio. The process began with certification at the Planning Level in 2019 and the Implementation Level in 2021. Washington’s Lottery was evaluated by a team of four independent experts, who reviewed the lottery’s efforts in eight key categories related to responsible gambling: planning, employee training, retailer training, public education and awareness, product oversight, research, advertising, and resources. To maintain its Sustaining Level certification, Washington’s Lottery will need to re-apply and be re-evaluated every three years.

Kristi Weeks, director of legal services for Washington’s Lottery, said: “I can’t begin to express how proud I am of the work our team has done to achieve this important standard. We have a unique obligation as a state agency that sells a gambling product and need to balance the goal of raising money for important state initiatives like education with the need to acknowledge and assist the small percentage of players who may experience gambling-related distress. We take that work very seriously and weave it into all aspects of our jobs.

“The key to our success has been the integration of responsible gambling initiatives into each and every employee’s position rather than centralizing it into only one or a few positions.”

In its evaluation report, one of the assessors noted that Washington’s Lottery “has done a great job weaving responsible gambling throughout the organization and normalizing it in day-to-day activities.”