The Kentucky Lottery Corporation has been awarded Level 2 Certification of the World Lottery Association's (WLA's) Responsible Gaming Framework.  The Kentucky Lottery is the first United States lottery to achieve this level of certification for its responsible play programs.

To receive this certification, WLA members must adopt the organization's responsible gaming principles. The principles helps lotteries assess their responsible gaming programs and to keep them on a course of continuous improvement. They govern the protection of players, cooperation with stakeholders, research, advertising, the promotion of responsible gaming and the monitoring of gaming activities.

The KLC received the certification by submitting a self-assessment and gap analysis which examined the lottery's social responsibility programs. These programs include the "Play Responsibly" initiative, support for the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling and the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline, and the KLC's addiction awareness program "Choices". The certification was awarded by an independent international panel of corporate social responsibility experts.

"This certification shows the KLC's commitment to responsible gaming is in line with the highest industry standards," said KLC President and CEO Arch Gleason (Gleason also serves as the current WLA president). "We've received state and national awards in the past for our 'Play Responsibly' program, and to be the first in the United States to receive this world-recognized certification is a great indicator of our program's strength."

The WLA represents more than 140 member lotteries from 76 countries and five continents. Only 17 of its members have achieved responsible gaming certification of level two, three or four.

Wrong! Gleason is indeed the curent president of the WLA, but what you're missing is that the level 2 certification is awarded by an independent assessment panel comprised of corporate and social resonsibility experts from around the globe. Here's how it works:

Submitting member lotteries will be certified to the WLA Responsible Gaming Framework (RGF) with the help of an independent assessment panel. This panel is comprised of a selection of international experts from the field of corporate social responsibility. As an independent body the Responsible Gaming Independent Assessment Panel (RGIAP) will review all submissions for the RGF levels 2–4 and will forward their certification recommendations to the WLA. Through the knowledge and expertise of the RGIAP, the WLA has a reliable and competent partner to aid them in evaluating all submissions and to help them render a correct and precise decision on certification. Their suggestions will also help submitting lotteries to optimize and continually improve their responsible gaming programs.

The panel will do four things:

• Assess the information provided by the lottery.
• Assess the quality of the assurance provided.
• Designate the level the lottery has accomplished.
• Give feedback to the lottery on their performance.

Any time, Ridge Runner. Lottery Post is a great way to see what folks are thinking, and I'm on it quite a bit. Head north sometime with a big winning ticket to cash here!