According to a new report published by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), 21 million customers in Europe had one or more safety tools activated on their gambling accounts, representing a 14% increase from the previous year. This accounts for 65% of all players.

EGBA’s 2024 Sustainability Report, focusing on EU countries and the UK, reveals that 65% of customers use safer gambling tools, totalling 21 million customers. Of these, 37% use safety tools voluntarily, while 28% use mandatory tools due to regulatory or operator requirements.

Compared to 2022, the number of players using safety tools has increased by 14%. The share of players using voluntary tools has also been steadily increasing since 2020: 33% in 2020, 25% in 2021, 30% in 2022, and 37% in 2023.

Types of safety tools used

Among the tools used by players, the most frequently used is the deposit limit (70% of players using a safety tool).

The overall percentage of customers who voluntarily set a deposit limit on their accounts has risen significantly over the past three years: from 16% in 2021 to 23% in 2022, and to 27% in 2023.

Other safety tools include:

– Time limits or reality checks, used by 14% of players who use safety tools voluntarily

– Self-exclusion (13%)

– Product blocks (4%)

– Loss limit and stake limit, used voluntarily by less than 1% of players

However, voluntary self-exclusion for over six months has decreased from 3% in 2021 to nearly 0% in 2023.

Increased prevention efforts from the operators

The total number of messages sent to customers to promote safer gambling rose significantly to 67.6 million in 2023, marking a yearly increase of 49%. 23.7 million of these messages were personalised based on the customers’ actual playing behaviour.

In 2023, 80% of all employees underwent specialised training in safer gambling. This training was provided not only to safer gambling teams and customer-facing employees, such as those in customer service, but also included employees in corporate roles and those not directly interacting with customers.

Safety messages: do they work?

In 2023, 55% of customers exhibiting potentially problematic behaviours improved their play after receiving safety messages. The effectiveness of safety messages is evaluated by comparing a customer’s losses (the value of bets won and lost), excluding bonuses, over a 90-day period immediately before and after they received an initial safety message.

Specifically:

– 45% showed improvement

– 10% stopped playing

For customers who did not improve, EGBA members continued to engage with them to encourage safer play. In some cases, safety tools on their accounts were mandatorily activated or strengthened.

After receiving a message, 25% of potentially problem gamblers activated or strengthened a safety tool voluntarily, and 7% opted for self-exclusion, also voluntarily.

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