Members of the European gaming and betting association (Egba) significantly stepped up their efforts to implement and promote safer gambling in 2023, according to the association’s fourth annual sustainability report published today. The report reveals that 65 percent of European customers – a record 21 million of them – used safety tools last year, with over half doing so voluntarily, a 14 percent increase compared to the previous year. Additionally, the association’s operators sent a record 67.6 million messages to their customers to promote safer play, a 49 percent yearly increase. Over 23 million of these messages were personalised based on a customer’s actual playing behaviour.
Egba’s Sustainability Report 2024 outlines the joint efforts and progress made by its members to promote a sustainable approach to gambling and contribute positively to society in Europe.
The report aims to track yearly progress, support transparency, and reinforce a strong culture of social responsibility. This year’s report includes key sustainability highlights from Egba and its members during the past year, as well as data points collected from its members related to customers, safer gambling tools and promotion, social contributions, employment and diversity, and energy and environment.
Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, Egba, says: "We’re pleased to publish our latest sustainability report, highlighting significant progress by our members in many areas of safer gambling, particularly in the roll-out of safety tools and their direct interactions with players about their playing behaviour. This demonstrates their collective efforts to embed a sustainable approach to gambling at the heart of what they do. In the report, our Ceos also quite rightly flag their concerns about the growing black market in Europe and the risks it poses to players and the progress made in safer gambling. We’re pleased to expand our reporting this year with specific new metrics about the use of safety tools and messages to promote safer play”.
Below are key Egba member operator data for 2023.
SAFER GAMBLING TOOLS - A record 65 percent of all customers, or 21 million, used at least one safety tool, a 14 percent yearly increase. Notably, over half of the customers using tools did so voluntarily.
Deposit limits were the most popular tool, used by 70 percent of customers who use tools voluntarily.
PROMOTION OF SAFER GAMBLING - A record 67.6 million messages promoting safer gambling, a significant 49 percent yearly increase. Over a third of these messages, 23.7 million, were personalised to customers based on their individual playing behaviour.
Personalised messages were primarily delivered via on-screen pop-ups (70 percent) and email (25 percent).
80 percent of all employees received dedicated safer gambling training. This accounted for over 45,000 employees in both online and land-based operations.
IMPROVEMENT EFFECT OF SAFETY MESSAGES - 65 percent of the customers who displayed potentially problematic play either improved or stabilised their play following safety messages. Specifically, 45 percent improved their play, 10 percent refrained from playing, and 10 percent stabilised their play.
32 percent of these customers voluntarily activated or strengthened safety tools, including self-exclusion, in response to safety messages.
CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS - Total number of customer accounts reached a record 32.5 million, marking a 4 percent yearly increase. 72 percent of customers were male, down slightly from 74 percent in 2022, while the share of female customers increased to 28 percent from 26 percent. Age-wise, the largest customer segments were those aged 26-35 and 36-50, collectively accounting for 59 percent of customers.
SOCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS - 61.2 million euro allocated to problem gambling research, education, and treatment (Ret) services and €151.4 million was donated to various charities and community initiatives across Europe.
EMPLOYMENT AND DIVERSITY- 58,633 employees in both land-based and online operations, with 57 percent male and 43 percent female employees.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT- Total energy consumption of 253.4 GWh across online and land-based operations, with 71.8 percent sourced from renewable energy. Greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 0.93 million tonnes Co2e.