Entain, the leading global sports betting and gaming entertainment operator, has underlined its position as the market leader in player protection and sustainable gambling in Australia with the release today of its trailblazing new television commercial, featuring Hollywood A-lister Mark Wahlberg.

Following on the back of its recently released ‘Ladbroke It’ campaign featuring Wahlberg as Chief Entertainment Officer ‘Mike Iceberg’, Entain, which operates Ladbrokes in Australia, will today release a dedicated responsible gambling TV commercial, set to the iconic soundtrack of “The Gambler”.

Ladbrokes is committed to reaching over 8 million Australians with its dedicated ‘Stay in Control’ messaging which helps Aussie punters understand that if it’s no longer entertaining, it’s time to walk away.

Entain will further underline its commitment to harm minimisation with the release of its new Punter Assist tools in April, as well as committing to a week-long retail advertising blackout in late July to support Queensland’s Responsible Gambling Awareness Week.

Since it was first introduced in April 2020, Punter Assist, which brings together a suite of account management tools to provide customers with an unprecedented level of control over their gambling, has been widely embraced by Entain Australia customers.

Since launch customers setting deposit limits increased more than threefold from 28,738 in 2019 to 94,243 in 2020. Customers making use of the ‘Take a Break’ feature over the same period increased 26,942 to 52,719 while almost 5,000 punters utilised the new ‘Block Out’ feature in 2020.

Entain Australia CEO Dean Shannon said that the enhancement of the company’s player protection safeguards was a core business objective.

“Punter Assist has represented a significant step forward in demonstrating Entain Australia’s commitment to player safety and we now lead the industry in personalized account management,” Shannon said.

“We were highly sensitive to the financial and emotional strains that were placed on many Australians during the COVID pandemic and we are more determined than ever to ensure our customers enjoy gambling in a safe and responsible manner.

“The release of ‘The Gambler’ campaign and the significant upgrade of Punter Assist further underlines that harm minimisation and sustainability are a cornerstone in the strategic direction of our business.”

The enhanced version of Punter Assist introduces a range of new features including ‘Curfew’, which allows customers to disable their account at certain times of the day, increased flexibility in the setting of deposit limits, and the capacity to customise user experience to exclude certain sports or product types via the ‘Market Control’ function.

Entain is also in the process of developing advanced, data driven techniques for identifying problem gambling, using real-time data and machine learning to prioritise customers displaying riskier behaviours to expediate interventions by specialised staff.

Wahlberg said Entain’s commitment to player protection was a key point in agreeing to work with the company.

“Aussies have a great sense of humour and it was really fun to bring “Mike Iceberg” to life. Ladbrokes has been great to work with and I like that this campaign encourages people to gamble responsibly”, Wahlberg said.