EGBA report shows rise in use of safer gambling tools

The EGBA’s first Sustainability Report shows that customers have increased their use of safer gambling tools.

Belgium.- The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has published its first Sustainability Report, which finds that the association’s members have increased their use of responsible gambling tools.

It reports that 75 per cent of customers used at least one safer gambling tool in 2020, up from 61 per cent in 2019. The tools used included deposit limits (used by 22 per cent of customers), time checks (5 per cent) self-exclusion (5 per cent) and product blocks (1 per cent).

The EGBA reported that its members had sent 2.8 million personalised communications to customers about their betting behaviour to promote responsible gambling habits in 2020. This represented a 133 per cent increase from 1.2 million communications the year before.

Members also sent 14.2 million generic communications on safer gambling and made €408m in voluntary contributions to European sports through sponsorships and sports streaming rights payments – an increase of 20 per cent year-on-year. Members also provided safer gambling training to 32,479 employees.

EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said: “EGBA and its members are committed to lead from the front on safer gambling and our yearly sustainability report is part of our commitment to be accountable and transparent about our activities, track our progress and support our overall efforts to put safer gambling at the heart of what we do.

“The personal commitment of the CEOs to achieve these objectives is vital and welcomed. It is very encouraging to see that our members are already putting their commitment into action through the greater deployment of safer gambling tools and by communicating more than ever before to their customers about safer gambling, and in an increasingly personalised and targeted way.”