The European Committee for Standardization recently released the first Pan-European consumer protection contract which has been in development for a great deal of time. During its creation, trade associations and online gambling operators continued to pursue the agreement. The Committee’s primary responsibility was to foster the technical specifications from a workshop discussion. The main object was to create a single market for the online gaming industry in Europe.
This contract is appropriately entitled, “Responsible Remote Gambling Measures” and outlines nine goals to assist with the protection of players from the European Union. Furthermore, the agreement specifies 134 measures to guarantee those ideas are met. The nine protection of player policies include:
- Prevention of underage gambling
- Privacy protection
- Tackling fraud
- Customer satisfaction
- Fair gaming
- Ensuring accurate customer payments
- Operating a safe environment
- Protecting vulnerable customers
- Responsible marketing practices
Although these goals are not new among countries that legalize online gambling, the idea of standardizing them across many countries is innovative. In the workshop developing these standards were industry representatives for various companies, problem gambling experts, online players, and addiction and criminology experts. Surprisingly, this diverse group of individuals came to a consensus on many of these issues.
The chairperson of the workshop was Andrew Beveridge, the CEO of eCOGRA. He publicly recognized that developing these standards over the past seven months has finally come to fruition with an excellent agreement to protect customers across the European Union. Also, this workshop has greatly benefitted eCOGRA and the associated seal-holders. Furthermore, he stated that this agreement will complement other current industry standards.
click here to see most Popular PagesFollowing the release of the agreement, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) in conjunction with the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) commended this major achievement by the group. The European Committee for Standardization is one of three European standardization bodies recognized by the European Union. Currently there are over 60,000 business federations, technical experts and others involved with the Committee.
This agreement is a major step forward for the online gaming community in Europe and the rest of the globe. It shows that responsible gaming can occur among all parties involved. Other countries that question the morality and ethics set forth by online gambling should observe the progress this group has made. If the final implementation of these standardization policies is successful, it may create a trend across the globe among countries with legalized gambling.
