The EGBA has published its annual sustainability report.

Belgium.- The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has reported that half of its members’ customers (some 14.9 million people) use at least one safer gambling tool. Meanwhile, the group’s members sent more than 20 million personalised safer gambling communications to customers in 2021, a 700 per cent increase year-on-year.

The data comes in the body’s annual sustainability report. The EGBA said the numbers show its members’ “commitment to promote sustainable gambling” and outlines “joint efforts to invest in a strong culture of safer gambling”.

The group said that the report aims to track yearly progress, support transparency, and reinforce a strong culture of safer gambling and social responsibility.

It includes the EGBA’s key sustainability highlights from the past year and data points from its members related to customer service topics, the use of safer gambling tools, the promotion of safer gambling, social contributions, support for European sport, as well as a section dedicated to social responsibility initiatives.

The report shows a significant increase in the overall number of safer gambling communications sent to customers at 38 million, up 123 per cent year-on-year. Personalised and targeted communications accounted for 66 per cent of that, with 22.5 million personalised communications sent. That’s an increase of 700 per cent year-on-year.

The EGBA said this reflected a shift towards a more targeted and personalised approach to safer gambling by its members.

That leaves 15.5 million generic communications, a 9 per cent yearly increase. Meanwhile, the number of customers using at least one safer gambling tool, whether mandatorily or voluntarily, hit 14.9 million – 50 per cent of customers.

Voluntary contributions to European sports, through sponsorships and sports streaming rights payments, totalled €499m – a 22 per cent rise year-on-year.

EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said: “We’re pleased to see that our members are communicating more than ever to their customers about safer gambling and, importantly, in a significantly more personalised and targeted way. This is all part of their efforts to promote sustainability and a strong culture of safer gambling. 

“Meaningful progress has been made, and it is pleasing to see our members reinforcing their efforts by funding more research, introducing innovative new strategies, and investing in the latest tools and technologies to promote safer gambling. The personal commitment of the CEOs to achieve this progress is vital and shows that our members take our collective sustainability drive seriously.” 

EGBA launches pan-European AML guidelines

In September, the EGBA published its first pan-European self-regulatory AML guidelines in a bid to strengthen the anti-money laundering (AML) efforts of online gambling operators. The EGBA guidelines introduce self-regulatory standards to help operators comply with the latest EU and national anti-money laundering rules.

The EGBA guidelines propose best practice industry standards, which it says online gambling operators should apply across their EU and EEA operations. The guidelines apply a risk-based approach and include sector-specific guidance to support a high standard of compliance with EU, national and supranational AML rules.

Meanwhile, the body reported positive feedback from the first independent monitoring of its pan-European responsible advertising code. The monitoring was conducted by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), a Brussels-based association that represents European self-regulatory organisations for advertising.