- REGULATION & COMPLIANCE
Denmark was the European country subjected to the most instances of non-compliant igaming marketing last year, according to Rightlander research released to iGB Affiliate.
The monitoring and compliance solution provider found 72,343 marketing compliance breaches in the dot.dk market in 2023.
Germany recorded the second highest total of infractions with 63,139, followed by Ireland with 57,409 and Spain with 43,312.
There was then a clear gap from these four to the rest of the countries in Rightlander’s network analysed for the report, with Italy next closest with 16,354 recorded breaches (see chart below for full by-country overview).
Rightlander said that the high number of compliance infractions in Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Spain “might give regulators in these countries something to consider as they grapple with the potential harm caused by misleading and manipulative marketing practices.”
Denmark finished top of the list due to high volumes of the two most prevalent types of non-compliant marketing detected by Rightlander last year. The Nordic nation accounted for the highest number of instances of content containing risk-encouraging keywords, and finished marginally behind Ireland on detected incidences of life-changing terms.
Germany led the way in two categories of non-compliant marketing last year, the promotion of unlicensed brands and the targeting of excluded players. This is likely attributable to the low channelisation of online casino players within the regulated market due to the restrictive conditions imposed on dot.de licence holders (see below for interactive breakdown of infractions by country).
Ireland, in addition to being subject to the highest volume of messaging that participating in gambling could change their lives for the better, finished second only to Germany when it came to receiving time-sensitive calls to action.
Spain’s total was driven mainly by a high number of content pieces containing key phrases designed to encourage risky gambling behaviours, finishing marginally behind Denmark, as well as a high incidence of missing 18+ indicators across operator sites.
France, while having one of the lowest yearly totals of infractions among the European countries analysed, all 3,581 instances of non-compliant marketing detected by Rightlander in the country related to operator content omitting the required responsible gambling messaging.
The UK was not included in the dataset and will be the focus of a forthcoming report from Rightlander.
See also iGBA's earlier report on how the diifferent types of marketing infraction detected by Rightlander and how these broke down in 2023.
To obtain a full copy of Rightlander's European Marketing Compliance Review on which this article is based, please contact shenaly.amin@rightlander.com