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Online gambling advertising and self-regulation: a pan-European Code of conduct

posted on 10 July, 2020   (public)

A self-regulatory code to promote responsible online gambling advertising with a particular focus on minors and social media

 

On 28 April 2020, the European Gaming and Betting Association, EGBA, has published the first pan-European Code of Conduct on responsible advertising for online gambling. This association, based in Brussels, represents the main online gaming and betting operators established, licensed and regulated in the European Union and promotes “the creation of a safe and reliable European digital environment for online gambling players”.

 

The scope of the code: applying to all EGBA members, it is also open for signature by any online gambling companies licensed in the EU, the EEA zone and the United Kingdom. Five national gambling associations have already endorsed the code (BE, DK, NL, NO and PT).

The rules in the code:

  • Content moderation provision: what should be included or not in advertising content;
  • Specific protection of minors rules such as the prohibition of advertising during children programmes or an age filter to ban gambling advertising on minors' social media profiles;
  • Prohibition of sponsoring for programme potentially targeting minors;
  • Measures to encourage responsible messages and awareness campaigns.

The expectations around the code: the aim of the code is to strengthen the self-regulatory framework in Europe and to align with the AVMS Directive which emphasised in its recital 30 the importance of an effective protection of minors against exposure to audiovisual gambling advertising and encourage self- and co-regulation. 

The next mission for EGBA will be to consider how to efficiently monitor and assess the implementation of those new self-regulatory standards.

Source: EGBA


Further EPRA background: this code was presented by Vasiliki Panousi from EGBA during the EPRA webinar on Gambling and betting advertising which took place on 6 June 2020 (members access only).

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