The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has welcomed the Gambling Regulators European Forum’s (GREF) support for the development of a European standard on markers of harm for online gambling within the European Committee for Standardization (CEN).
This important initiative, which stems from an EGBA proposal submitted in 2022, aims to establish a set of behavioral indicators to help more quickly and accurately identify problematic gambling behaviors, also known as “markers of harm”.
Development of the European standard within CEN, which began in 2023, brings together expertise from academia, gambling regulators, operators, and harm prevention professionals across Europe. Expected to be finalized and published by the end of 2025, the standard will be voluntary in nature and will provide a much-needed common definition of markers of harm. A detailed discussion of markers of harm took place in an earlier EGBA webinar on the topic.
Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA, expressed: “We very much welcome GREF’s support for this important initiative. The development of a European standard on markers of harm will be a crucial step forward for safer gambling in Europe. It will help establish a more common understanding of problem gambling behaviors and raise the bar on player protection across the industry. Collaboration on safer gambling is crucial, and we call on all stakeholders participating in the CEN standardization process to support its finalization in the coming months.”