The UK reached a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU on 24 December, which outlines the duo’s future relationship with the UK officially leaving the bloc.

The Brussels-based industry trade association said the UK’s divorce deal with the EU fails to resolve many consequences that will be seen for online gambling companies, particularly with data flow which falls short of safeguarding the industry.

The body believe there needs to be a long-term data arrangement agreed between the EU and the UK, with the interim agreement of data transfers to expire in less than six months.

However, UK-based online operators which manages or stores processes data in the EU will still need to be compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EGBA said it recognises the challenging nature of the data requirements, especially for smaller companies.

Failure to manage such data could lead to complications for online gambling companies and the EBGA touched upon its industry code of conduct on data protection to help ensure operators and suppliers meet their GDPR obligations.

EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said: “At this stage, we consider the most concerning outstanding issue with Brexit to be the question of cross-border data flows, given the vast amounts of data used in the online gambling sector and the many companies which have operations in both the EU and UK.

“Without a long-term agreement which secures the smooth flow of data, online gambling companies who operate in both jurisdictions would need to decide, among other things, where best to locate their data hubs to ensure as little disruption as possible to their everyday operations.”