Andrew Rhodes at IAGR Conference: Collaboration Focus

Andrew Rhodes’ keynote speech at the IAGR Conference is the kind of bureaucratic performance that makes you wonder: is this about regulating gambling or building a CV so shiny it could be seen from space? Delivered with the solemnity of someone who believes they’re on the verge of solving world hunger (or at least cracking down on illegal betting), the speech checks every box in the civil servant playbook: lots of talk about "data pillars," endless praise for "collaboration," and just enough jargon to obscure the fact that Rhodes is mostly interested in promoting one thing—himself. And all this, naturally, at the taxpayer's expense.

It all kicks off with a bit of Italian—presumably to spice things up. But beneath the pleasantries and linguistic flourishes, it’s clear this isn’t really about punters, gambling, or even regulation. This is about Andrew, and Andrew's future in the regulatory pantheon. What better way to flex those bureaucratic muscles than at an international conference, rubbing shoulders with fellow regulators while talking up innovation like it’s the holy grail? Rhodes could’ve called the speech "How I Became the Hero of Global Gambling Regulation" and it would’ve been just as fitting.

The Glorious Gospel of Collaboration

One of Rhodes’ favorite words during this performance was "collaboration," which he treats like some newly discovered concept, as if regulators working together were on par with inventing the wheel. The way he speaks of it, you'd think no one had ever considered the radical idea of regulators cooperating before. But this isn’t really about collaboration at all—it’s about making sure Rhodes has something to point to when the next job opportunity comes knocking. After all, collaboration sounds so noble, so progressive, doesn’t it? It’s bureaucrat gold.

And then there’s the cost—because all these international jaunts, roundtables, and meetings don’t come for free. Collaboration, in Rhodes' world, seems to translate to endless taxpayer-funded initiatives where bureaucrats fly around the world, sip coffee at conferences, and return home with the same problems they left with—but with a little more gloss on their LinkedIn profiles.

Data: The New Holy Grail

Ah, the beloved "data pillar." Rhodes can’t stop talking about it, and why should he? It’s a perfect way to justify spending buckets of taxpayer cash on sprawling projects that sound important but achieve little. The Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) is his latest pride and joy, heralded as the largest survey of its kind, though one might wonder who exactly asked for it. Was it the 97% of gamblers who play responsibly? Probably not. It’s more likely just another tool for the bureaucratic empire-building machine—a shiny new toy that allows Rhodes to speak in terms that make him sound like a tech visionary rather than a regulator whose actual job is keeping gambling fair and safe.

And speaking of that 97%—where are they in this speech? Despite their overwhelming majority, they’re conspicuously absent. Rhodes doesn’t seem all that interested in celebrating the fact that most punters manage to enjoy gambling without falling into the abyss of addiction. Instead, he’s laser-focused on the minority who struggle, which allows him to justify his endless "data innovation" and other initiatives. He reduces most gamblers to mere data points—statistical footnotes in his grand bureaucratic narrative, where the solution to everything is more regulation and, of course, more data.

A Masterclass in Self-Promotion

One of the highlights of Rhodes’ data obsession is GamProtect, a system that flags vulnerable gamblers and shares their information across operators. It sounds noble on the surface, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is more about Rhodes’ ambition than consumer protection. With each new program, Rhodes adds another line to his CV, another feather in his bureaucratic cap. But is this really about helping gamblers, or just ensuring Rhodes can brand himself as the champion of gambling safety? It feels like the latter—another pet project designed to win plaudits from regulators around the world, while the taxpayer quietly picks up the tab.

Then there’s his half-hearted lament about how a UK newspaper story wiped £3.5 billion off the share value of gambling operators. Rhodes seems genuinely concerned about this financial hit, almost as if he’s worried about the big operators’ profits. But where’s that same concern for the regular punters or, better yet, the taxpayers funding all this regulatory showmanship? Nowhere to be seen.

The Biases Beneath the Bluster

It’s not just the content of the speech that gives away Rhodes’ priorities; it’s the cognitive biases quietly lurking behind every phrase. Confirmation bias reigns supreme as Rhodes zeroes in on problem gambling, ignoring any data that might suggest the system is working just fine for the vast majority. His focus on collaboration and innovation smells distinctly of status quo bias, as if the only way to tackle gambling issues is to continue expanding the bureaucratic machine.

And then there’s the availability heuristic—Rhodes gives way too much weight to the highly visible, high-profile cases of gambling addiction while completely ignoring the boring, everyday reality that most punters gamble without any trouble at all. This allows him to build a sense of urgency and justify the endless projects that serve more to build his personal brand than to truly protect consumers.

Rhodes also suffers from overconfidence bias, believing that data and regulation are the magical cures for any problem, despite the fact that human behaviour is complex, and more data doesn’t necessarily mean better outcomes. It’s as if he genuinely believes that his spreadsheets can fix everything—from illegal gambling to problem betting—while the punter becomes nothing more than a row in his Excel.

The Endnote of Irony

Rhodes wraps it all up by declaring that the Gambling Commission is "putting people first." It’s the kind of statement that sounds good but means next to nothing—a bureaucratic equivalent of a Hallmark card. The truth is, Rhodes’ speech is far more about making sure the machinery of regulation hums along smoothly than about addressing the human cost of gambling. The punter is not at the centre of this narrative; they’re a statistic to be managed, nudged, and, when necessary, redirected.

In the end, Rhodes' keynote wasn’t really about gambling regulation, consumer protection, or putting people first—it was about putting himself first. The 97% of safe gamblers? Just background noise. The taxpayers funding all this? An afterthought. But for Rhodes, every "collaboration" and "data innovation" is another step up the civil service ladder, one shiny project at a time.

https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news/article/iagr-2024-conference-keynote-andrew-rhodes-speech