EGBA calls for more common EU rules

The association believes that common rules in the continent will help improve player protection.

Norway.- The European Gaming & Betting Association (EGBA) is calling for more common European rules and safeguards to better protect more than 12 million online gamblers in the continent. This comes after a recent study only one member state, Denmark, has fully implemented the Commission’s guidelines.

Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA, revealed that the association recently asked City, University of London to review online safeguards that exist in EU member states and the study showed that only Denmark has fully implemented them, therefore major gaps exist in Europe’s industry.

The study also detailed that only 14 member countries have a self-exclusion register, but none of them are interoperable and self-excluded players in one member country can still access websites based in another country.

“The challenges are obvious: The internet has no national borders, which means Europeans can easily play on gambling websites based in countries other than where they live. But the quality of national gambling regulations in the EU varies significantly and there is no consistency between them,” said Haijer.

EGBA believes that a common rulebook would establish the strong and consistent safeguards needed to protect Europe’s citizens, particularly vulnerable groups, such as minors and problem gamblers: “One set of rules would also benefit our members’ companies: one set of rules would be clear and would lessen the costs and risks of meeting 28 different, and sometimes conflicting, sets of rules.”

“It is 2019: If the EU is really serious about making the digital single market work for its consumers, there is no reason why online gamblers living in one member country should be less protected than those living in another. It is time to act,” added the association.