Online gaming within the the European Union (EU) is now governed by the regulations of each participating country. But the EU is moving toward a more coherent, unique European online gaming market.
Online gaming services are going through a growing expansion in EU, with an annual growth rate of about 15%. Revenues will probably reach $13 billion by 2015. Today nearly 6.8 million people play one or more online games.
Michel Barnier, of France, has been the head of the European Internal Market and Services Commission (IMCO) since February 2010. Online gaming is one of the hottest issues he deals with, as Commissioner. It was the focus of the first motion he got through IMCO, the day after his installation.
The situation Barnier faced was complicated: some countries would have preferred common measure implemented in a relatively a brief time, and some would have preferred to opt out of any centralized regulations.
The first step in moving toward a EU-wide regime was a series of consultations with each country, which resulted in a Green Paper on online gaming in March 2011. In that, all countries’ positions were officially written out. The paper pointed out that each country had the same aims: the protection of players (guaranteeing transparency and equality), prevention of fraud, and the promotion of the integrity of sports games on which bets were placed. The report highlighted the general inadequacy of each country to handle most of the legal, social, and technical problems of online gaming because of the market’s cross-border characteristics.
The next step, at the end of 2012, was the introduction of an action plan (roadmap), with a series of initiatives related to regulation and cooperation. The European Commission said it would adopt three key rules: on the protection of the players, on advertising, and on gaming frauds and match fixing.
All the countries in the EU will focus on five issues, taking the Green Paper as a starting point: respect of the European community policy, cooperation among nations, protection of player interests, money laundering, and the integrity of sports being bet on. The main point underlined by the Commissioner is the creation of provisions that no country is allowed to ignore, with heavy consequences for violations.
At the beginning of 2013, IMCO was given the task to prepare a report on the action plan’s principles. The text focuses on specific topics such as cooperation among states, the protection of the interests of players, and the integrity of sports. A resolution was approved by the European Parliament in September 2013, with 572 votes in favor and 79 against.
Here are more details regarding that text:
- Principle of subsidiarity. Rather than a single European law for the whole sector, the proposed approach is one of “active subsidiarity” (decentralization), requiring the cooperation among countries’ administration in order to create a coordinated system of online gaming services. Each country is allowed to have its own rules on gaming organizations, in full respect of the fundamental rights of non-discrimination and proportionality promoted by the EU Treaty.
The normal principle of “mutual recognition” among countries will not be observed with regard to online gaming. However, all counties must introduce a system of licenses allowing all European suppliers (with full respect for the laws of the hosting country) to apply for permits.
In order to fight illegal gambling, the Commission intends to create a blacklist of all non-authorized operators whose operations must be closed down.
- Protection of consumers. As the inefficiency of solutions adopted in each nation emerged, the Commission proposed a jurisdictional safeguarding of deposits, in case online gaming websites will run up against fines or prosecutions. The Commission also plans to support the victims of unlawful gambling activities, through the provision of free assistance.
For individual accounts, it’s hoped to introduce norms within the EU regarding players’ electronic identification, such as age controls; to set limitations for electronic payments; and to obligate operators to publicly warning consumers of possible addictions. As a player opens his own account, full detailed information about the product must be supplied. In order to reduce gambling addictions, a network of local organizations for the treatment of such problems is planned.
- Online gaming and sports. Although the risk of fraud has always been present in sports, it has been increasing since online betting began, and it represents a significant threat to the integrity of gaming and to the sports being bet on. It is therefore necessary to spell out a common definition of match fixing and fraud in sports, and to start legally prosecuting these crimes, being aware of possible clashes of interest between gaming operators, sports clubs, the teams, and the individual athletes. Police forces are the most important means to deal with this problem, particularly by creating special task forces.
Since sports receive income from gaming, the Commission intends to evaluate how alternative financings might better protect the integrity of sports being bet on.
Last but not least, it’s necessary to cope with the issue of advertisement and sponsorship in sport events, where these are done by online gaming operators. The goal is provide enough safeguards while allowing sponsors to easily act where their interests are not problematical.
It’s clear that EU is moving forward prudently: Too many interests are at stake and the community of players is so huge that rigid restrictions and prohibitions could cause more problems than they solve. But final resolution is still so far out on the horizon that a happy ending is still a matter of hopes and dreams.
In May 2014 all seats in the European Parliament will be up for re-election. Later that year, a new European Commission will be selected. Given these upcoming changes, no amendment to the actions taken by the Commission in 2012, and by the Parliament in 2013, is likely to happen until 2015 at the earliest.
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”,”serif”;}
Davide Tedesco was born in Rome in 1980. After a degree in Economics (2004), he started to work in a gambling company and, as a reporter, for online-gaming magazines. A member of Publishers Association in Lazio since 2009, he is actually involved in finance and keeps on collaborating as a free-lance journalist for periodicals and Internet websites in his spare time.
