Twenty-seven countries fail to fully implement EU online gambling RG standards

Twenty-seven EU member states have not fully implemented EU Commission guidelines on protecting gamblers online, according to a new report commissioned by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA).

The report, published by City University London, revealed that only Denmark had met all the EU’s guidelines, first set out in 2014. The guidelines make recommendations in areas including player identification, protection of minors and other social responsibility measures, aiming to achieve a uniform standard for online gambling regulation across the EU.

Of the 28 EU member countries, only 25 legally require online players to open an online gambling account in order to gamble, while 22 EU countries require players’ identities to be verified upon application to open a gambling account.

Maartin Haijer, secretary general of the EGBA, called the disparities “entirely inadequate for what is an inherently borderless digital sector”.

All EU member countries impose a minimum age requirement for gambling, with 22 countries setting a uniform age restriction of 18 years of age on all online gambling. A further thirteen EU countries require ‘no underage gambling’ messages to be displayed on or during commercial advertisements on online gambling sites.

In the area of social responsibility, the report found that 23 EU countries require operators to offer self-exclusion facilities for online gamblers, while a further 14 have established self-exclusion registers. However, the report found that no EU country automatically refers gamblers to health groups organisation or treatment centres upon self-exclusion.

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