The consumer protection measures offered by six European Gaming and Betting Association members in the UK and Denmark have been assessed in a report by KPMG.
Conducted alongside various group’s across a number of other jurisdictions, the review of online operations in the gambling industry was undertaken on the sites of bet365, Betsson, Entain, Flutter, Kindred Group and William Hill.
This saw a focus placed upon the five core focus areas of customer safety; data protection; know your customer; anti-money laundering; and advertising.
In the first two of the segments KPMG has reported that each offering examined boasts “extensive” information regarding responsible gambling practices and consumer protection, as well as data protection policies and statutory responsibilities.
Despite finding a generally “robust representation” of KYC obligations, it was found that all but one Danish firm set out the requirements for proof of identity when attempting to open an account. This exception was also found to be unspecific about the information required from users.
Elsewhere, it was discovered that another EGBA member required website users to create an account in order to access their terms and conditions.
Two of the the companies assessed were said to have “only partial information in respect of their anti-money laundering practises within both the Danish and UK sites”.
All UK and four of the six Danish were said to “explicitly state” that they reserve the right to suspend and/or close an account where there is a suspicion or knowledge of money laundering or other criminal or fraudulent activity.
Furthermore, four of the former and three of latter were also discovered to warn that funds may be withheld in the event suspicion of such activity arises.
With one exception, all websites were found to state that personal data is used to provide targeted and tailored product recommendations.
Four inform that players may opt out of receiving marketing/advertising communications, but only two UK and one Danish site state that players may object to their information/data being processed and used for marketing purposes.
“We welcome the report and its findings, which offers a valuable barometer of the level of consumer protection offered by our members,” stated Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the EGBA.
“The purpose of the report is to check how EGBA member companies sit within the bigger world of online services in terms of the consumer protections they offer.
“The findings clearly show that EGBA members have a high commitment to offering their customers a high standard of consumer protection.”
