The EGBA and the Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling (OVWG) are pleased to announce that OVWG has joined EGBA as its newest member as per 2 December 2016.
Claus Retschitzegger, President of the OVWG said: “OVWG faces many challenges on the Austrian market and joining the EGBA will strengthen our position both in Austria and on EU level. EGBA has been the leading voice for the industry in Europe for many years, and we can now benefit from their vast experience of other European markets and knowledge of EU law and procedures. The prime objective of OVWG is to support the enactment of a new, fair and modern regulation for online gambling in Austria”.
After welcoming in recent years the Gibraltar and Swedish trade associations to the EGBA, OVWG is the third affiliate member to join the EGBA. Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of EGBA said: “We are very pleased that OVWG has joined EGBA and we look forward to cooperating. It is puzzling that even Austria, where so many successful online operators originate from, still has no online gambling regulation in place that fits with the realities of the digital economy and online consumer behaviour.”
Commenting on the current status of online gambling in Austria, Claus Retschitzegger, underlined: “There is too much legal uncertainty with the current regime in Austria for many years. Now, as a relatively new interest group in Austria, we are ready and willing to contribute to a new regulation that is both EU compliant and strong on player protection.”
Haijer added: “Our continued membership growth is also a testament to the importance of influencing the discussions at EU level, as EU digital regulation increasingly applies to the online gambling sector. For an evidently cross border sector like ours the proper application and enforcement of EU law becomes ever more important.”
For more information, please contact:
Claus Retschitzegger, President, OVWG [email protected] Tel. +43 676 840988109
Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, EGBA [email protected] Tel: +32 2 554.08.90
About OVWG:
The Austrian Association for Betting and Gambling (OVWG) is the voluntary coalition of international online providers for sports betting and gambling operating in Austria. The aim of OVWG is to achieve a regulation which provides a clear framework of fair competition for regulated operators in line with EU law. Its members are Bet-at-home, Cashpoint, Interwetten, Leovegas, Meridian Bet, Mr Green, Unibet, Tipico, Wettpunkt.
About the EGBA:
The EGBA is an association of leading European gaming and betting operators Bet-at-home, BetClic, GVC/bwin.party, Expekt, and Unibet. The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA), Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) and the Oesterreichische Vereinigung für Wetten und Glücksspiel (OVWG) are affiliate members of EGBA. As a Brussels-based non-profit association, EGBA promotes the rights of more than 20 million adult European citizens to participate in online gambling of their choice in an informed, regulated, safe and secure environment. While online gambling remains a smaller part of the total gambling market (15%), based upon innovation, technology and digital consumer demand, online gambling transformed itself into an industry champion of the European digital economy with material spin-off effects towards other digital economies and strong synergies with sports. EGBA members have invested more than €600M into digital security and contributed to sports with more than €800M, mainly via sponsorship deal and purchasing innovative sports streaming rights.
