EGBA Members Make Responsible Advertising Progress with First Code Monitoring Exercise

An independent evaluation of EGBA's pan-European responsible advertising code has revealed that the code is sufficiently comprehensive and detailed, providing a solid foundation for responsible advertising practices. The monitoring also found that EGBA members are correctly applying most of the code's measures.

Today, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has made progress in their responsible advertising efforts, according to the first independent monitoring of the association’s pan-European responsible advertising code. This monitoring was conducted by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), a Brussels-based association representing Europe’s self-regulatory organisations for advertising. EASA found that the EGBA code is a solid basis for responsible advertising in online casinos sphere and EGBA members already apply most of its measures. EASA also proposed improvements that could be made to strengthen the code and its implementation. These results are a sign of the efforts being made by the EGBA to ensure responsible and ethical advertising practices throughout Europe.

In 2020, EGBA established a pan-European responsible advertising code for online gambling. This code covers all aspects of advertising, including content, social media, minor protection, and responsible gambling messaging. To ensure that this code is kept up to date and effective, EGBA members will have their compliance monitored periodically by an independent third party. This monitoring is an integral part of the code.

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) commissioned the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) to oversee the advertising code during the Euro 2020 football tournament in 2021. To help in this process, EGBA enlisted the services of Nielsen, a renowned advertising analytics company, who gathered 1240 advertisements from EGBA members in four countries (Greece, Romania, Ireland, and Sweden). The collected ads, which included TV commercials, online pre-rolls, static and animated online banners, and EGBA members' social media accounts, were then assessed by EASA.

In June 2022, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) gave positive feedback on the European Gaming and Betting Association's (EGBA) code of conduct for responsible advertising. According to EASA, the code provides a solid basis for responsible advertising due to its comprehensive and detailed content, and EGBA members already generally adhere to the code's measures, particularly with respect to content moderation. EASA noted that the code could be further strengthened in areas such as the clarity of responsible gambling messaging in advertisements (both in terms of legibility and speed), the explicit mention of legal age requirements for online gambling sites, the provision of a forward advice notice, and age-gating mechanisms on social media profiles.

Next, members of the EGBA will discuss ways to use and put into action the input from EASA to further enhance the overall effectiveness of the code.

EGBA is satisfied with the progress of its members in practicing responsible advertising, and is grateful to EASA for its constructive yet critical feedback. Advertising is an effective way to inform the public of which gambling operators are legitimate and properly regulated. We urge all other operators to join us in upholding responsible advertising standards. The industry must take serious actions to ensure that advertising is done responsibly, particularly with the upcoming World Cup, or else the pressure to limit advertising will continue to grow. – Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, EGBA.