The data was outlined in the EGBA’s Sustainability Report 2024, published 18 February. It provides an insight into the actions taken by member operators to mitigate problem gambling behaviours throughout 2023 (between January and December).
It aims to track “yearly progress, support transparency, and reinforce a strong culture of social responsibility” across Europe’s igaming sector, the foreword noted.
EGBA’s member companies include bet365, Evoke, Flutter, Entain and Kindred. EGBA members employ 58,633 people across both their online and land-based operations. Roughly 80% of staff have received dedicated safety gambling training.
Overall, 67 million messages were sent to customers to promote safer play. Of this number, only a third (23.7 million) were personalised to address the customer’s playing behaviour. This was up 49% from 2022.
Up to 7.3 million customers received “personalised safety” messages in 2023, flagging their gambling activity. This was up up 16% on the previous year.
According to the findings, 35% of gamblers who displayed “potentially problematic play” did not improve or stabilise their gambling after being sent initial safety messages.
Of the 65% of gamblers that did change their activity after receiving a message, 45% “improved their play,” while 10% “stabilised” it. The “improvement effect” of the safety messages was measured by evaluating a customer’s losses over a 90-day period before and after the message was sent.
In 2023, 70% of the “personalised safety” messages sent to customers consisted of on-screen pop-ups, while 25% were emails. Direct phone calls accounted for only 1% of messages delivered.
Broken down by age, 60% of personalised safety messages were sent to customers aged 35 years or younger.
Customer accounts and voluntary safety tool use on the rise
The number of reported customer accounts in 2023, in which a user has placed at least one bet in the reported year, was up by 4% to 32.5 million year-on-year. This marks a significant jump in users when compared to 2020, which saw 16.6 million active customer accounts. In 2022 this grew to 31.2 million.
The trade body reported that 21 million of these customers had one or more safety tools activated on their accounts during the reported 12-month period. This was up 14% year-on-year to 65% of all customers.
The tools include either voluntary or mandatory deposit limits, time limits or reality checks, which include pop ups asking a player if they are still keen to continue their activity.
Reported customers that voluntarily adopted safety tools was up 30% since 2022, accounting for 12.1 million users. The majority of the safety tools used voluntarily were deposit limits at 70%, while time limits and reality checks accounted for 14%.
In total, only 13% of gamblers seeking safety tools opted to undergo self-exclusion.
Customer age demographics largely leaned towards younger users in 2023, with 21% aged 18-25, while 29% consisted of 26–35-year-olds.
In 2023, the EGBA reported that there were 14.6 million customer service interactions recorded by its members. Of this number, only 7% related to safer gambling, while 41% of enquiries addressed pay-out wins, odds, payment types and bonuses or product offerings.
EGBA says black market poses a “mounting threat” to players
In its report the EGBA called for action against black market operators and sites, which it said posed a “mounting” threat to EU players.
“These unregulated websites evade the responsibilities that regulated operators adhere to and operate outside of regulatory oversight in Europe. Yet, the websites are easy to find, and the popularity of VPNs means they are easily accessible,” the EGBA stated.
These sites are enticing players with attractive sign-up bonuses and competitive odds and the trade body reported that the situation is being “exacerbated” by strict regulatory frameworks in EU countries.
It argues that “severe restrictions” in some countries are preventing its members from creating attractive and competitive offers to players, subsequently steering them towards safer locally regulated sites.
The EGBA has called on national policymakers to create regulatory frameworks that “balance robust” user protections with competitive and innovative in the online gambling landscape.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/regulation/egba-members-take-mandatory-action-on-5-of-potentially-problematic-accounts-in-2023/
