EGBA outlines failings in consumer protection

The association has published a study in which it determines that there are failings across EU member states.

UK.- The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has released its latest study “Consumer Protection in EU Online Gambling Regulation,” in which it describes that there are significant failings in consumer protection across member states of the European Union.

The EGBA reported that the European Commission’s goal of protecting all online gamblers across Europe has failed, mainly because of differences in each member state marketplace requirements on consumer protections.

“Because online gambling in Europe is regulated at national level, the level of consumer protection provided to players varies depending on where they reside in the EU – and this is entirely inadequate for what is an inherently borderless digital sector,” said Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the EGBA.

“Guidelines have proven insufficient and we call on EU policymakers to act by introducing mandatory rules to ensure there is a consistently high level of consumer protection and uniform safety nets for all online gamblers in Europe.”

The association said that only Denmark has implemented the key player protections in full, while only 13 members implemented the “no underage gambling” signs across advertising content.

“The study attributes this failure to the voluntary, non-binding nature of the guidelines and concludes that mandatory EU rules are needed to ensure a uniform, high-level of consumer protection for online gamblers in Europe,” concludes the report.