Virginia Conference Weighs Responsible Gambling Issue
David Genge Published 18/09/2026
Recently, a conference was held in Virginia featuring several movers and shakers from the online gambling industry discussing responsible gambling issues. The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) played host to the Responsible Gaming Roundtable. The SBA is an advocacy group that represents five of the major operators in the U.S. legal and regulated sports betting market. They are Bet365, BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics, and FanDuel.
Topics of discussion during the roundtable included tools to help players control their betting, educating young people about the risks of gambling, and how to connect problem gamblers with counseling and treatment options when gambling stops being entertainment.
Prominent members of the gambling community take part in this Virginia roundtable
Among the participants in the Responsible Gambling Roundtable was Joe Maloney, president of the SBA. He served as one of the moderators of the discussion, along with state Senator Mike Jones, a Democrat from Richmond. Also participating were Cameron Zuckert, the senior manager for responsible gaming partnerships and programs for FanDuel, and Dr. Carolyn Hawley, director of the Virginia Partnership for Gaming and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. Then there was Anthony D’Angelo, head of responsible gaming for Fanatics, and Keith Whyte, the founder and president of Safer Gambling Strategies.
Those who work directly in the sports betting industry sought to underline how important they take the issue of responsible gambling.
“Responsible gaming is not a regulatory obligation to us; it’s the foundation of a sustainable, durable legal market,” Maloney told the Virginia Mercury. “Getting this right takes more than one company working on its own.”
Betting site operators detail how they handle the issue of responsible gambling
The participants on the panel who work directly in the gambling industry set out to provide a blueprint for the measures they take to ensure that customers are gambling responsibly.
At FanDuel, Zuckert explained that the company seeks to educate players on the safest methods of gambling before they ever place their first bet on the site. Guidelines on how to manage a bankroll and determining how much they are comfortable spending on gambling are provided to players directly on the FanDuel site.
“We do a lot of work to drive awareness of not just what it means to play responsibly, but also the risks associated with problem gambling,” Zuckert said. “You don’t want to shy away from that topic. It’s a very real topic.”
D'Angelo put the issue into business terms. Problem gamblers are not good for the betting industry's future.
“We want a long-term, sustainable business, and we can’t do that if customers are on our platform playing irresponsibly," D'Angelo said. "Not getting the help they need and then never play again.”
Virginia healthy gambling advocates feel more needs to be done to combat problem gambling
Virginia voted to legalize online sports betting in 2020. The first bets were placed in January 2021. There are 11 active sports betting licences in the state. According to the Virginia Lottery, the regulator of sports betting in the state, bettors wagered more than $589 million on sports in June. That's the most recent month with available data.
A portion of that revenue goes directly to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund.
There is a statewide network in place that offers treatment, peer-recovery support, support groups, and financial counseling to problem gamblers. However, there is a statewide shortage of qualified technicians capable of providing counseling.
“It’s one thing to have money for treatment,” Hawley said. “It’s another thing to have capacity — providers who know how to deliver that treatment.”
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