Europe approves new standard for safer gambling to be launched in 2026

The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) has approved a draft for a new Europe-wide gambling standard, developed by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), designed to identify and reduce gambling harm. 

This standard is the result of a multi-national collaboration led by Dr Maris Catania and coordinated by the French Standardisation Association and is expected to be launched in early 2026. 

This is not the first time that Europe-wide gambling rules have been suggested, but it is the first time that a draft has been approved.

A unified push for safer gambling 

It has been previously suggested that there should be global or Europe-wide policies surrounding gambling to increase consumer protection and consistency. 

A unified approach to the rules will reduce confusion for players and hold operators to a higher standard. 

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), alongside other national committees, regulators, academics, operators and harm prevention experts, have been contributing to this initiative. 

The senior manager of EU affairs, Vasiliki Panousi, highlights her optimism about the initiative:

“After years of driving this project, through its conception and development, seeing the overwhelming support it has received is incredibly rewarding". 

How will the new standard work?

The goal is to establish clear and consistent rules for identifying risky gambling behaviour across all European operators. This enables gambling operators to step in when players are showing signs of gambling-related difficulties. 

These are some of the examples of risky behaviour that they will be looking out for: 

• Prolonged gaming sessions 

• A sudden rise in deposit volumes 

• Consecutive losses
  

Whilst there are high hopes of this becoming the main guide for responsible gambling all over Europe, the use of this standard by regulators and gambling companies is voluntary. 

Timeline and implementation

The next step is for the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to complete its final checks, including the translation of the standards. This process is expected to take a couple of months, which is why the official launch is expected to be in early 2026. 

The senior manager for EU affairs at EGBA is hopeful that this move “will offer an essential building block for effective harm prevention in Europe”. 

The impact on players

The most immediate effect on players will be a change in safety measures. Here’s how each change will affect players: 

What will change	What this means for players
More consistency from operators	Players will no longer need to check which set of regulations is being followed when they come across a new site.
Sites will notice a change in gambling habits	More communication between players and operators when they believe that your habits are becoming dangerous.
Standardised interventions	The way that operators communicate with players and offer help should be similar, no matter what European country or company players are using.

All of these changes are designed to protect players from unhealthy gambling habits. Intervention can be anything from emails warning you of the dangers to mandatory cooling-off periods. 

There should also be an improvement in the levels of transparency. Seeing as there will be stricter and more consistent regulations, players should have clearer information about what safety tools are available and how exactly these companies are monitoring for harm. 

A step forward for player protection

This new movement by the European Gaming and Betting Association marks a pivotal moment for player safety, establishing a baseline for harm prevention across Europe. While the framework is voluntary, its approval by national bodies suggests a strong and collective desire to unify protection measures. 

As the standard progresses towards its launch, set to be in early 2026, the focus now shifts to national regulators, who have a choice to encourage or mandate its use, ultimately defining the scope and success of this step for European online gambling safety.