European Gaming & Betting Association

Through licensing and regulation, the consumer can be offered a high level of protection and have access to responsible and regulated sites whereas prohibition risks driving gaming ‘underground’ and place players at the mercy of unscrupulous operators. Due to the nature of the internet players can and will obtain access to sites if they wish to. Consumers are best protected by ensuring that there are a range of regulated services available and that the incentives to be regulated and operate responsibly are high, not low.

• Members of the EGBA are all located and licensed within the EU/EEA. This means that the EGBA members are merely asking European Member States to respect their rights under European law, notably the Treaty of Rome (Articles 43, 49). While members choose to locate within different countries for individual business reasons, all members are fully licensed and regulated in those jurisdictions. 

Bet-at-home – Malta

Bwin – Gibraltar

Carmen Media – Gibraltar

Digibet – Gibraltar

Expekt – Austria

Interwetten – Malta

PartyGaming – Gibraltar

Unibet – Malta

This is an unfounded allegation created to avoid having a constructive debate on the real issues. All EGBA members are licensed and regulated in the EU/EEA and most are publicly listed companies on the world’s leading exchanges. There are many operators that operate to the highest standards of responsibility and prevent their systems being used for criminal activity.

All EGBA members abide by the rules of their licensing regimes as well as the EGBA code of conduct. This means that all EGBA members undertake stringent identity and age verification checks on all customers; provide customers with:

-    the ability to be excluded or self-exclude
-    the ability to establish bet and deposit limits
-    access to 24/7 customer service and support; and
-    responsible gaming information including links to problem gambling and betting information and qualified advice services where available in a territory.  

As well as providing these tools and services, EGBA members support and work with a number of charities and organisations which tackle irresponsible gambling throughout Europe.

In fact we believe that the state-monopolies can learn a thing or two from EGBA members' practices in this area!

There are no additional restrictions or safeguards on state monopoly sites and they are aggressively seeking to expand their market-share. For example, Francais des Jeux were recently criticized for their launch of a particularly addictive game aimed at younger players (Rapido). The monopoly sites are businesses just like any other looking to maximize returns. The lack of permitted competition is actually harmful to both consumer value and choice and prevents the development of ever-more innovative responsible gaming policies and practices. 

In many member states incumbent monopoly operators are protected by national legislation and discriminatory licensing based on arguments that this protection is out of concern for public order and consumer protection.

Yet, the monopoly operators have over the years increased their promotion of offerings to an extent and intensity that shows no concern for public order or consumer protection from gambling addiction; they only “protect” the consumer from freedom of choice. These operations are totally commercialised with advertising campaigns, sponsorship and other branding activities and should be subject to competition like any other service industry within the EU.

Having a state monopoly means that consumers are often blocked from playing on sites they have previously enjoyed or prevented from trying out sites they might like to enjoy. By preventing freedom of choice, state gaming monopolies limit the consumer’s ability to choose the best odds and most entertaining games as well as preventing consumers from choosing the most socially responsible sites.

In addition, many monopolies fail to implement the high level of social responsibility or provide all of the features common to the sites of licensed and regulated private operators, such as the members of the EGBA. Find out more about our social responsibility measures and code of conduct here.

No online service can be 100% effective on this issue but the fact is that it is extremely difficult for children to gamble online. All EGBA members strictly enforce measures aimed at preventing any form of underage gambling.

All customers must provide information including their name and age on registration, before this information is verified using third party verification services where available. This is an area where the EGBA is developing partnerships with verification service providers to improve the scope and coverage of services available on an international basis. Governments need to also play their role in assisting the development of verification services by making more official databases available for consultation.

Addiction is not beneficial to the operators. It is not in the interests of those seeking to build trusted and valuable brands online, to encourage and foster addicted customers. The more profitable customers are those who remain loyal and active within comfortable limits over a long period of time rather than those who over-do it and “burn out”. Stories of gambling addiction or problems are bad for the industry and bad for responsible operators seeking opportunities to operate within regulated environments.

Through self-regulation, online tools and by working closely with responsible gambling organisations (such as RIGT and Gamcare in the UK, Adictel and SOS Jouers in France and so on), EGBA members work to highlight and prevent irresponsible gambling. Luckily the vast majority of customers have a responsible attitude towards gambling and view it as a form of entertainment where spending is monitored like anywhere else.

Money laundering is virtually impossible thanks to sophisticated systems which monitor every transaction and offer unprecedented protection. There is a perfect audit trail online that cannot be replicated in a bricks and mortar casino. In addition, money coming into the online service has already passed through a regulated financial service such as a bank or credit card company.

Most EGBA members are publicly listed companies, therefore they are also heavily scrutinised and regulated by financial authorities meaning that any sort of money laundering or fraud taking place within the company is highlighted and dealt with immediately according to established protocols.

Without having information about the player, their means, circumstances and playing habits, limiting spending or the number of cards an individual can use has not been proved to be an effective or proportionate solution to the risk of over-spending.

The ability to build up debt is there for all holders of credit. This is not a problem restricted to gambling and applies to all types of products and services and therefore the gambling industry should not be singled out.

Further, the array of credit offered by the financial services industry in Europe is complex and diverse. The use of a different form of payment such as a credit card is not indicative of irresponsible gambling, especially as many customers insist on the importance of convenience afforded them by the possibility of registering a number of cards.

The vast majority of players enjoy online gaming as a leisure pursuit through a medium that offers quick, simple and convenient access. It would be wrong to limit all players as a means of tackling the small number for whom gambling becomes a problem.

It is extremely difficult to monitor and identify when someone has begun to gamble irresponsibly. As with offline operators, EGBA members do not collect information about a customer’s financial situation, spending or habits, for both practical and privacy issues.

Our work with problem gambling support bodies continues to highlight that a person who has developed a problem must identify it themselves and take positive steps to deal with the problem. EGBA members do train their staff to help those who believe they have a problem and approach customer services.

At this time there is yet to be a comprehensive piece of research, definitive standard or set of guidelines as to how to identify someone who has developed a gambling problem although EGBA is supportive of such research and its members will continue to develop the tools and support available as understanding in this area increases.

The prevailing view however, is that it is very much the minority of players who develop problem gambling habits and while EGBA takes this issue extremely seriously, the response to this issue needs to bear in mind that fact.

Online gaming allows consumers to enjoy this form of entertainment at their own leisure in a safe environment. As with betting or visiting a casino, the individual is responsible for regulating his or her spending, although responsible operators offer such tools as deposit and session limits for customers to help them regulate their online play.

There is no definitive evidence to demonstrate that online play ultimately leads to problem gambling. Online gaming is not necessarily a ‘solitary’ activity as there are many players in interactive casino rooms and peer to peer games such as poker are interactive and community-driven. Online gaming provides players with a high degree of social interaction by allowing customers to play against people of all ages and ability from around the world. Most online sites allow social interaction through instant messaging or “chat” and message boards. There are also numerous and popular forums where online gamers can meet and discuss their shared activity.

Quite the opposite, the average pay-out on a state-owned site is significantly lower than that of the competitive private sector. State-owned sites can be as low as 50-55% pay-out compared to an average of around 95% pay-out on EGBA members’ sports and casino sites.

There is no evidence of this. The vast majority of contributions to sports and good causes come from state lotteries, not the products and services that EGBA members offer. EGBA members also make a number of contributions to charities throughout Europe, including in those countries where the operator does not have a physical presence. In addition, EGBA members and other European-licensed operators contribute to the local economies and would do so increasingly via sponsorships (including of sports clubs), advertising and the consumption of a variety of supplies from local suppliers. The EGBA is also open to discussions around contributions to sports at the amateur level and this should not be used as a rationale for protecting a state monopoly model.