International gambling giant Flutter Entertainment has joined the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), the company has confirmed earlier in September 2021. They are joining other world renowned gambling brands such as bet365, GVC Holdings, Betsson, the Kindred Group and William Hill as the already existing members.
“Safer Gambling and sustainability are paramount to everything we do at Flutter, so joining the EGBA was a natural fit for us. We look forward to working with other members to ensure the online gambling sector within Europe is more united on our role and responsibilities,” Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, Chief Legal Officer & Group Commercial Director of Flutter said according to a quote revealed by SBC News on September 8, 2021.
The trade association features some of the biggest brands in the European betting and gaming sector. Founded in February 2007 as the European Betting Association, it has been supervised by Maarten Haijer in the role of Secretary-General since April 2013. The goal of the association is the promotion of safer gambling standards in the industry and all members have pledged their support for this common goal.
With the addition of Flutter, the association receives a significant boost in credibility and exposure in the gambling industry. The newest member is expected to follow the guidelines and has already established extensive measures towards safer gambling by default.
“We are very pleased that Flutter has joined the EGBA family and welcome its commitment towards our ideals of sustainability and fostering a stronger culture of safer gambling in Europe,” Haijer remarked according to the SBC News article.
Numerous regulatory restrictions have been implemented during the global COVID-19 pandemic and the EGBA followed suit. They decided to establish a combined European sustainability report to put accountability and transparency at the helm of the mission.
Flutter has made several steps of their own towards safer gambling and recently announced the lowering of the net deposit limits for customers under the age of 25. This is now by default set to £500 per month and will be rolled out on the UK and Irish Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Betting & Gaming brands. The company bids to increase the protection for younger customers and wants to encourage sensible spending for what is generally considered a high-risk portion of the customer base.
Whether or not these changes will also be rolled out on other brands such as PokerStars remains to be seen. The UK has introduced stricter measures and affordability checks during the pandemic and currently discusses further requirements for the online gambling industry. This development is welcomed by the EGBA, which aims to fully cooperate with the local governments towards the same common goal of safer gambling environment.
Going forward, the EGBA will also increase the emphasis on research and understanding about gambling harm according to the released sustainability report. For that purpose, the association has requested third-party studies to further bolster the existing knowledge.
Results of these additional studies are expected to be released during the current year and will aim to also trigger an open dialogue with all interested stakeholders within the online gambling industry.
