Beyond RGEM: Driving a Permanent Industry Standard for Responsible Gaming

Safer play requires more than 30 days of attention. As Responsible Gaming Education Month concludes, RG Journal establishes a permanent weekly voice for industry accountability—delivering clear, accessible analysis on the latest trends, critical issues, and emerging insights in responsible gaming year-round. Here, Publisher Roger Gros explains why driving true progress requires a collective commitment from everyone.

This marks the sixth year that we’ve coordinated expert writers to produce articles for Responsible Gaming Education Month (RGEM) that the American Gaming Association convenes every September. I’ve always been proud of our efforts to spread the word about responsible gaming in September but this year was a little different.

I’ve been interested in responsible gaming for as long as I’ve been in the industry, since starting as a dealer at Caesars Atlantic City in 1979 and continuing through my career as an industry journalist.

As I transitioned from my role as publisher and then editor-at-large for Global Gaming Business magazine, however, I began to realize that there’s no single objective source where you can find information about responsible gaming. I later discovered that there were a few but nothing that was truly objective. A few sources are connected to conferences and trade shows, which make those gatherings sensitive to industry issues and provides for RG content at their sessions. A couple of other sites are anti-gambling, and are negative about anything the industry tries to do and not helpful at all.

And then I considered the writers who agreed to share their thoughts on responsible gaming during the month. To review all of the contributions you can go to GGBNews.com. There were many stellar articles this September from academics such as Sally Gainsbury at the University of Sydney, David Forrest with Liverpool University, Kahlil Simeon-Rose from Washington State University, Davis Fong at the University of Macao, and others.

We strive to include operators who experience real world situations with their views on RG. We had Brian Carr, the former president of Sands/Wind Creek Bethlehem, Dan Real, a former high ranking Caesars executive, and Jim Rafferty, a longtime exec with Boyd Gaming and the “father” of charitable gaming in New Hampshire, writing excellent pieces.

Current and past leaders of responsible gaming groups participated including International Center for Responsible Gaming’s Michael Soll, Keith Whyte, formerly with the National Center for Problem Gambling; Responsible Gaming Online Association’s leader Dr. Jennifer Shatley; Connie Jones with AGEM and many others.

So it was this response by so many incredible people that gave us the incentive to launch RG Journal, the only place to find objective and current information about responsible gaming. We were pleased to include Bill Miller, the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association as our first guest on the RG Journal Podcast. We’ve published several pieces from Travis Sztainert, the director of research for the ICRG, one of the brightest minds in the field and have many more in the pipeline.

The fact that there was no one site gathering complete information on RG surprised me because I’ll be the first to admit, I am woefully under-educated when it comes to responsible gaming. And I think that’s true, unfortunately for the vast majority of casino executives and employees, both land-based and online despite attending mandatory responsible gaming seminars in many cases. There are many great organizations throughout the world with their own agendas to tackle the problems associated with gambling addiction. But sometimes it feels like we’re all operating in separate silos. True player protection requires an industry dedicated to analyzing, testing, and elevating responsible gaming standards year-round. RG Journal will be that outlet.

So I admit to my shortcomings in RG education. RG Journal is being built to further the general knowledge of all who visit the site. But we need help. Should RG Journal house peer-reviewed studies and research accessible to all? That would be great, but another goal of RG Journal is to encapsulate those papers so everyone from the line employee to the C-suite can understand them.

This journey that we’re on with RG Journal belongs to the entire industry.  Whether you are an RG professional writing articles for us, an operator suggesting new focus areas, or a reader/player sharing your perspective, your voice matters. We are building an interactive community where the best ideas in responsible gaming come together. Responsible gaming education cannot be confined to September. It is a year-round endeavor—one that will transform the gaming industry through proactive measures, minimizing problem gambling while reinforcing the integrity and transparency at our core. Sign up today at RGJournal.com.

Roger Gros is the publisher of RG Journal, which launched in September 2026 with a focus on responsible gaming. Previously, he was the publisher and co-founder of Global Gaming Business magazine, as well as the editor of Casino Player magazine and Casino Journal magazine from 1983-2000. He has been covering the gaming industry since 1980.