Safer gambling tools use hit a record high in 2023, shows EGBA's new sustainability report

Members of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) have stepped up their efforts to implement and promote safer gambling in 2023, according to the association’s fourth annual sustainability report.

The report reveals that 65% of European customers – a record 21 million – used safety tools last year, with over half doing so voluntarily, a 14% 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% 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 in Europe.

The report aims to track yearly progress, support transparency, and reinforce 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 at EGBA, said: “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.” 

Key data from EGBA’s member operators (2023)

Safer gambling tools

• A record 65% of all customers, or 21 million, used at least one safety tool, a 14% yearly increase. Notably, over half of the customers using tools did so voluntarily.
• Deposit limits were the most popular tool, used by 70% of customers who use tools voluntarily.

Promotion of safer gambling

• A record 67.6 million messages promoting safer gambling, a significant 49% 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%) and email (25%).
• 80% 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% of the customers who displayed potentially problematic play either improved or stabilised their play following safety messages. Specifically, 45% improved their play, 10% refrained from playing, and 10% stabilised their play.
• 32% 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% yearly increase.
• 72% of customers were male, down slightly from 74% in 2022, while the share of female customers increased to 28% from 26%.
• Age-wise, the largest customer segments were those aged 26-35 and 36-50, collectively accounting for 59% of customers.

Social contributions

• €61.2 million ($66.61 million) allocated to problem gambling research, education, and treatment (RET) services and €151.4 million ($164.78 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% male and 43% female employees.

Energy and environment

• Total energy consumption of 253.4 GWh across online and land-based operations, with 71.8% sourced from renewable energy. Greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 0.93 million tonnes CO2e.