The ECA position on the Digital Fairness Act

The ECA calls on the European Commission to ensure that the Digital Fairness Act includes enforceable provisions that protect consumer online by, on the one hand, empowering national authorities to block illegal gambling, and, on the other hand, dismantling the online infrastructure supporting illegal gambling advertising.

The issue

Illegal gambling

Since the Covid-19 crisis, most European countries have allowed an accelerated development of online gaming. Legal land-based casinos expanded to provide services also online and, in doing so, applied to their online casinos the same level of security and safety as their land-based activity, in compliance with national and international/EU level laws and national licenses. However, the majority of online platforms were already and continue to operate illegally, without licenses, without taxation, without responsible gaming policies, and without any tools to fight money laundering and terrorist financing. 

A recent study by Yield Sec, commissioned by the ECA, reveals that in 2024, more than 70% of online gaming revenue in EU Member States, around €80.6 billion, was generated by illegal operators without the necessary gaming licenses.

Illegal ads

Moreover, these actors frequently rely on advertisements on social media and app store platforms to target EU consumers and lure them away from regulated and legal gaming venues and outside the bounds of legal safeguards and regulatory oversight. Sometimes, illegal operators even use deceptive interfaces, including the logos and images of licensed gaming operators, to promote their illegal activities, thus making it even more difficult for consumers to distinguish between legal and illegal gaming offerings. This trademark infringement causes irreparable reputational damage to legal and compliant casinos and causing a very unsafe environment for European consumers. The ECA has gathered such examples of illegal ads on social media and digital platforms, and we are willing to share these with EU institutions as evidence of the need for stronger digital safeguards (Annex I).

Consumers’ safety at risk 

From a consumer security perspective, the presence and advertisement of such illegal gambling operators represent an issue to be urgently addressed. Illegal operators actively target the most vulnerable members of society (minors, at-risk players) as their key audience. There is evidence found by Yield Sec that banned and self-excluded individuals are being directly pursued by illegal gambling operators through aggressive and manipulative marketing on social media and app store platforms. This not only exacerbates problem gambling but creates a societal disaster. 

Licensed operators diligently apply all laws and regulations and work closely with government regulators, including in the fight against money laundering. They provide responsible gaming and ensure that vulnerable players receive support and protection. Illegal operators, on the other hand, operate completely unregulated, evade state control and do not pay taxes in the countries where they operate. The profits from their criminal activities often lead to money laundering and further criminal business. They deliberately exploit vulnerable individuals via manipulative online practices such as(fake) influencers promotional videos – mostly done using Artificial Intelligence -, deceptive advertisement, dark patterns and addictive designs on their websites, thereby exacerbating financial hardship, addiction and social harm. The societal and economic consequences for EU Member States are massive, as these illegal operators fuel crime, debt, and social instability.

The current EU legislative framework, including the recent Digital Services Act (DSA), provides some tools to address these challenges. However, it does not go far enough in enabling EU member states to protect consumers effectively and swiftly from manipulative and harmful digital practices exploited by illegal gambling operators. The European Casino Association (ECA) trusts that the Digital Fairness Act (DFA) will provide the right instruments to close this gap and strengthen the EU action against such content online. 

Our recommendations to policymakers

As the European Commission prepares the DFA, the ECA sees a vital opportunity to shape a future-oriented regulatory framework that protects consumers, ensures legal clarity, and preserves the integrity of the licensed gaming market. Although the DFA will not directly regulate gambling, the cross-cutting digital practices it addresses – such as deceptive interfaces, dark patterns, addictive designs, and (fake) influencer marketing – are key tactics used by unlicensed and harmful gambling providers. These issues are closely linked to enforcement challenges in the digital environment, particularly where illegal operators exploit gaps related to manipulative design, deceptive advertising, and lack of accountability.

In this context, the ECA calls for the following key measures to be included by the European Commission in the DFA legislative proposal:

1. Strengthen national enforcement tools to tackle illegal gambling

The ECA urges the European Commission to embed in the DFA clear provisions that, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, give national authorities the means to effectively apply the regulation and, ultimately, protect consumers by acting against illegal gaming operators who use deceptive interfaces and advertisement, dark patterns and addictive designs in their online activities. As such, the DFA should:

• Provide a clear legal basis for EU Member States to effectively and immediately block access to illegal gambling websites through Internet Protocol (IP) and Domain Name Systems (DNS)blocking mechanisms.
• Introduce a framework for Member States to allow for payment blocking and domain blacklistingto cut off the financial and digital infrastructure supporting unlicensed operators.
• Allow the swift removal of illegal gambling websites, similar to what the EU is currently doing to tackle illegal streaming platforms under the EU Copyright Lawand the Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRED).
• Cooperate with national authorities and Europol to ensure implementationand enforcement of the suggested legal basis. 

These tools will not only enable national authorities to act decisively but also send a strong signal that the EU does not tolerate illicit gambling activities that endanger EU consumers.

2. Crackdown on illegal gambling advertising 

A core focus of the DFA must be addressing the proliferation of illegal gambling advertising, especially on social media platforms and digital app stores. The misuse of online platforms for illegal gambling ads attracts consumers away from regulated and legal gaming venues and outside the bounds of legal safeguards and regulatory oversight. This makes some of these digital platforms also inadvertently facilitators of illegal gambling. 

By strengthening the instrument laid down by the Digital Services Act (DSA), including mandating stricter due diligence processes for platforms, and swiftly removing illegal advertisements signalled by trusted flaggers, the DFA would make it more difficult for illegal gambling operators to use these channels for advertising and ultimately ensure greater consumer protection in the digital space. More specifically:

• Platforms must verify their business partners' legitimate right to offer the services advertised, reducing the risk of unknowingly facilitating illegal activities. In particular, platforms should be required to verify that gambling advertisers hold valid licensesin EU member states where they target consumers. This should be implemented through a standardised verification protocol that includes cross-referencing national gambling regulatory databases. In addition, platforms should introduce clear visual indicators that distinguish verified, licensed operatorsfrom unverified or unlicensed content publishers.  By doing so, the DFA would effectively reduce consumers’ exposure to illegal gambling content by limiting distribution from the source.
• Illegal gambling content and advertisements flagged by properly established and licensed gaming organisations and national gambling authoritiesmust be swiftly taken out from online platforms, similarly to the mechanisms laid down in the DSA for trusted flaggers. Organisations such as the ECA, and in particular its national members, bring deep expertisein identifying illegal gambling operations and operate within highly regulated and responsible gaming environments, both online and offline. 

These measures align directly with the scope of the DFA, which aims to combat manipulative and harmful digital practices, on which Illegal gambling operators frequently rely for their advertising, especially to target vulnerable users through deceptive endorsements or opaque algorithms. Including this issue within the DFA ensures that enforcement tools evolve in step with the tactics used by illegal operators online. Overall, by addressing the content and the people behind such illegal ads, the DFA can effectively curtail the visibility and impact of illicit gambling marketing, ultimately contributing to a safer and more responsible gaming environment in the EU.