I’ve spend a lot of time studying economy, trying to understand what is and why we have the neo-liberal capitalism. And I have come to the conclusion that the cause of most problems is shareholder primacy and profit maximization. It had its value and brought us to where we are now, which is as much good as bad, but we have to come to realize that it’s time has come. There will always be a demand for gambling, as it seems to be in the nature of people. And if there is a demand there will in India and China in my mid-20s, I have seen real poverty and pollution, the kind that most people in western Europe only know from TV. I’ve experienced it with all my senses and it had a big impact. One of the things that can still make me emotional is remembering walking in India through the streets and having children follow you begging for money and asking for food and my Indian friend telling me not to give money because it doesn’t help them. For those who have seen the movie “Slumdog Millionaire,” well, it’s exactly like that. That was hard. In Dutch they say “je krijgt eelt op je ziel,” which means “you get calluses on your soul.” These experiences, and having had such a privileged life, gave me a strong urge to want to contribute to making the world better. So that is where my passion for sustainability mainly comes from. Also, my mother’s upbringing helped and there are other things, of course, but the stories get very long if I get into all the details. The more I have come to understand how the world works, the more frustrated I’ve become with how we humans behave and human nature. But we can’t blame anyone for being who he/she is and acting the way they do. Everyone is a product of their life and we just try to make the best out of it based on the values that we have learned through our life experiences. But I am convinced there must be a better way because of what I’ve seen and the people that I’ve met. What motivated your decision to champion transparency and sustainability in the online gaming world through BetterWorldCasinos.com? There are several factors. I always have been looking for how I can contribute to making the world better. Around the year 2000, my small SEO and content marketing agency was doing well. I had a couple of clients and business was OK. Often people asked why I wasn’t building my own affiliate site. I knew how hard the competition was and that I would only succeed if I would find a good niche. In all my jobs over the last 10 years, I was always looking for how it could be done more sustainable. Sustainability in gambling always was mainly about responsible gambling and a bit about diversity. But sustainability and ESG is about so much more. There is a lot of greenwashing, companies seemingly doing the right things, but for the wrong reasons. They are doing it not to actually do good for society, but only for compliance, brand reputation and marketing. I’m a big fan of investigative journalism and I have been a paying member of Follow the Money and “de Correspondent,” two great journalistic publishers. The last few years BetterWorldCasinos There is a lot of greenwashing, companies seemingly doing the right things, but for the wrong reasons. They are doing it not to actually do good for society, but only for compliance, brand reputation and marketing. 61 GPWAtimes.org
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDIzMTA=