EGBA Praises the Results of KPMG’s Customer Protection Research

The European Gaming & Betting Association (EGBA) revealed a new report by KPMG which reviewed the consumer protections offered by various brands. As it turns out, EGBA’s members excel at customer protection.

KPMG Evaluated EGBA Members

The report, which was commissioned by the EGBA, reviewed one of the websites of the association’s six members in Denmark and the United Kingdom. The review also covered one website in each jurisdiction for selected social media, finance, relationship, liquor and esports companies.

The report held the reviewed sites to five standards: know-your-customer, customer safety, data protection, AML and advertising. KPMG understood that EGBA’s members offer many and detailed measures when it comes to safer gaming and data protection.

Maarten Haijer, EGBA’s secretary general, commented on the findings. He noted that they offer a “valuable barometer” of the protections provided by EGBA members. The research aimed to see whether the association’s members are able to protect their customers and set an example for other companies within the sector.

The findings clearly show that EGBA members have a high commitment to offering their customers a high standard of consumer protection.

Maarten Haijer, secretary general, EGBA

Here are the results of KPMG’s research:

EGBA Members Have Sophisticated Customer Protection Practices

The websites of the reviewed EGBA members had impressively detailed safety measures. KPMG reported that all reviewed websites in both the United Kingdom and Denmark have “robust” KYC procedures. KPMG also noted that all but one of the reviewed websites require customers to prove their identity when creating an account.

In terms of customer safety, all reviewed websites turned out to have extensive safer gaming practices. All of them promote responsible gambling and provided customers with the necessary tools to moderate their gambling. Loss limits, self-exclusion tools and helplines are an integral part of these gaming brands’ offerings, the review concluded.

The report reviewed data protection policies next. It identified extensive data protection policies and statutory responsibilities on the websites. The responsibilities include details of rights, data retention, data control, lawful basis for processing data, privacy policy and personal information processing.

KPMG, furthermore, learned that most of the reviewed websites have detailed AML practices. Two companies were lagging behind a bit and had only a moderate amount of information concerning anti-money laundering.

Only one of the sites failed to inform customers that their personal data might be used for targeted marketing. The rest informed their customers about this and four of them clearly stated that players may choose to stop receiving marketing communications.

The EGBA remains committed to setting an example for companies in the European gambling sector. On a separate note, the association recently published its pan-European AML guidelines.