Monitoring of the European Gaming and Betting Association’s (EGBA) pan-European code of conduct on responsible advertising for online gambling has begun. The first monitoring exercise[1] will test the compliance of EGBA’s member companies with the code during the rescheduled EURO 2020 football championships, a period when gambling advertising will be particularly visible.

The monitoring will be conducted by the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA), the European association of advertising standards bodies.[2] As part of the monitoring, Nielsen, a global analytics company with specialisation in advertising tracking, will track the advertising content of EGBA members across TV, social media and digital advertising mediums in 4 specific EU countries: Greece, Romania, Sweden, and Ireland. EASA will provide EGBA with an analysis of the tracking results, which may include recommendations to support compliance with the code and improve the overall effectiveness of the code.

EGBA’s code of conduct on responsible advertising applies to its members, and their operations in the EU and UK, and is open for signature from other online gambling companies. Monitoring is an essential part of any effective self-regulatory measure and is a requirement under the EGBA code. Compliance with the code will be monitored regularly and all monitoring results will feed into EGBA’s ongoing dialogues with EASA and national advertising regulators in the EU to support the code’s effectiveness.

“EGBA members are committed to advertising in a socially responsible way, even more so during prominent events like the EURO 2020 football championships. EGBA’s responsible advertising code puts this commitment into action and independent third-party monitoring of the code will support both compliance and trust in the code. Advertising is a hot topic in many countries and the gambling sector must take more responsibility for the content and tone of its advertising. We hope gambling authorities around Europe will acknowledge the efforts made by EGBA members to raise the bar in responsible advertising standards.” – Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, EGBA.