EU Athletes, European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), European Sports Security Association (ESSA) and Remote Gambling Association (RGA)

Summary of the initiative

Name
EU Athletes, European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), European Sports Security Association (ESSA) and Remote Gambling Association (RGA)
Objective(s)
The EU Athletes association and the UK Professional Players Federation (PPF), in cooperation with the EU Online Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), and the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) have agreed a common European code of conduct on sports betting regarding their current betting awareness programmes designed to help European sports professionals understand, and deal with, issues surrounding the integrity of sport, betting and match-fixing both on- and offline. It is a contribution to the EU sports policy debate, in particular on the integrity of sport. In this connection, the European Commission published a communication on sport on 19 January 2011 and a green paper on online gambling in the internal market on 24 March 2011.

Description of the Initiative

    Sector

    Sector

    Contact Point - Commission
    EAC C2

    Self/Co-Regulation Basic Act

    PRIVATE ACT
    Year
    2011
    Title of Act
    Code of Conduct on Sports Betting for Players
    Review, Revision or Sunset Clause Year
    2011

    Geographical Coverage

    Global coverage
    Participating Countries
    Germany

    Description

    Problems that lead to the introduction of Self/Co-Regulation and the adoption of the Founding Act
    After the first pilot year of the programmes, the main lessons learned were:
    <li>There is a real lack of information at the grass-roots level of sport.</li>
    <li>Some sports federations have no rules on sports betting, or fail to communicate them to players.</li>
    <li>Players’ associations are well placed to provide guidance to sportsmen.</li>
    <li>Direct, locker-room level contact with players is key.</li>
    Target Group(s)
    All Athletes in the EU
    Type of Instrument(s)
    European Code of Conduct
    Type of Financing
    European associations participating to the costs of design and printing
    Level of Financing
    €10K
    Type of Monitoring
    Conduct an initial survey of compliance capacity of future regulateesConduct regular visits and spot checksInitiate complaints proceduresMaintain database of those bounded by the normsProduce regular reportsReceive complaints and verify if norms were breached or notReflexive dialogue with the - stakeholdersOther
    European Commission
    National public authority
    International public authority
    Private regulator (code owner)
    Private independent party with a mandate (e.g. auditors)
    Self-appointed private parties (e.g. NGOs)yesyesyesyes
    Succinct description of the type of Monitoring
    The Code of Conduct monitoring takes place through several mechanisms:
    - The EU Athletes sports and betting year 2 programmes: These programmes will operate through a number of different channels (website, posters, wallet cards), but a unique feature of these activities are that top athletes actually go into the dressing-room to discuss face-to-face with their peers about how to behave properly – and be seen to behave properly – in relation to sports and betting. The programmes have already had a major impact in 2010 with players and is helping to keep sport clean.
    - The CEN Workshop Agreement on Responsible Remote Gambling Measures (self-regulation standards): 6.21 "For sports betting there should be procedures for identifying suspicious betting transactions and patterns which might identify a threat to the sport's integrity or an offence of cheating. Where a threat is identified there should be a procedure for notifying the relevant sporting body or Regulatory Authority in line with applicable data protection requirements."
    Type of Enforcement
    Faming, shaming and blamingJudicial sanctionsMembership suspension/exclusionPrivate finesOther
    Private Regulator
    Private independent party with a mandate (e.g. auditors)
    Court systemyesyes
    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) / Online dispute resolution (ODR)

    Downloads

    SMO self- and co-regulation database - private code 144