EGBA members commit to independent advertising monitoring during EURO 2020

Members of the European Gaming & Betting Association (EGBA) have reaffirmed their commitment towards responsible advertising by ensuring their compliance with the Association’s code of conduct on responsible advertising is monitored by an independent body during the upcoming EURO 2020 competition.

The first monitoring exercise will test the compliance of EGBA’s member companies during football championships, when gambling advertising will be particularly visible, and will be conducted by respected independent third-party monitoring body Nielsen.

As part of the monitoring, Nielsen will review the advertising content of EGBA members across TV, social media and digital advertising mediums in four specific EU countries: Greece, Romania, Sweden and Ireland.

Following the compilation of the monitoring results, the EGBA has request that that European association of advertising authorities, the European Advertising Standards Alliance provide an analysis of the monitoring results which may include recommendations to support compliance with the overall effectiveness of the code.

As things stand, the EGBA’s code of conduct applies to its members’ operations in the EU and UK. and is open for signature from other iGaming companies.

“Monitoring is an essential part of any effective self-regulatory measure and is a requirement under the EGBA code”, the Association explained.

Maarten Haijer, EGBA Secretary General commented: “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”, he added.

Indeed, as the wildly popular European football championship looms, the gambling advertising it naturally attracts has become something of a point of contention for commentators.

In the UK, for example, an MP, Ronnie Cowan, has called for the competition’s TV broadcaster to suspend gambling adverts for the duration of the tournament, to create a scenario where gambling is “tolerated, not promoted”.

Responding, the broadcaster claimed that the majority of matches it broadcast live will have no gambling adverts under its “whistle to whistle” ban, and the remainder will have no gambling adverts in commercial breaks before kick-off and before 9 pm.