EGBA concerned at EC Green Paper on online gambling

24 March 2011
by EGBA -- last modified 24 March 2011

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) welcomes today’s publication of the Green Paper on online gambling that will allow for a factual discussion at EU level. At the same time, the EGBA expresses its concern with the apparent lack of commitment to curb further fragmentation of the common market and ensure that consumers throughout the EU enjoy consistent standards of regulated, safe and high-quality products.

Without clear EU framework rules, the European online gambling market, estimated at € 9.08 billion in 2011, risks being driven underground into the hands of black market operators to the
detriment of consumers, legitimate EU licensed operators and State finances. 
 
Secretary General of EGBA Sigrid Ligné said:  "We welcome the Commission coming forward with a Green Paper and a factual discussion on all aspects of online gambling. We are deeply
concerned though that  the  focus of the  paper  seems to be on  a  national  rather than  an EU approach  despite the  clear  cross-border nature of this sector. What we  expect is  the Commission  to propose an EU regulatory framework for online gambling, as it has  done  for other inherently highly regulated sectors such as telecoms or pharmaceuticals. In parallel, the Commission  in its role as guardian of the Treaty should vigorously and systematically pursue infringement proceedings against those Member States that continue to violate EU law." 

The EGBA's main comments on the Green Paper are the following:
 
-  The Commission rightly devotes much attention to the questions of consumer protection and prevention of fraud. Indeed as confirmed by the Commission,  the Internet offers unique opportunities „as it provides the operators with more sophisticated possibilities to track the transactions of each player compared to off-line gambling formats?. Valuable initiatives have been developed in these areas, most recently  by  the European
standards body CEN, which issued a workshop agreement on  'Responsible Remote Gambling Measures' on 24 February,  setting  out a list of 134  concrete measures  that ensure responsible gambling and  provide greater protection  for  consumers throughout the EU.
 
-  Unfortunately  the Commission is silent on the need for hard EU rules to combat the increasing fragmentation of the  Internal Market through uncoordinated national prohibitions and restrictions. Yet, as the Commission itself admits: „The development of internet and the increased supply of online gambling services have made it more difficult for the different national regulatory models to co-exist.? 

-  The cost  of this  fragmentation  and duplication of national requirements  is particularly high. A study conducted in 2010 by Price Waterhouse Coopers shows  that,  for France alone,  the administrative and technical costs  for obtaining and maintaining  the national licence  to operate on the French market  are  €  8.7 million  for a single  EU  operator, already licensed in one or several other  Member  States.  National licensing regimes
imposing such burdens on the service providers  only benefit non-EU licensed  black market operators to the detriment of player protection.
 
-  Go-it-alone national rule-making risks being at odds with the jurisprudence of the CJEU, which sets clear limits to  restrictions that can be imposed on  legitimate EU operators, and may infringe competition rules. Between 2006 and 2010, over 150 national draft acts and  laws have been notified to the Commission for single market screening, and many have received a  formal warning from the Commission  for not complying with EU law.
Infringement cases  have been  commenced  against  several  national  laws  put in  force despite the Commission’s early warning. However, since early 2008 no developments have taken place in the pending  infringement cases and no new infringement
proceedings have been opened.

Sigrid Ligné concluded: ´The launch of this Green Paper should under no circumstances cause the Commission to freeze  pending or avoid opening new  infringement cases against national regulations that are in violation of the Treaty.´

The European Gaming and Betting Association is an association of leading European gaming and betting operators Bet-at-home.com, BetClic, bwin, Digibet, Expekt, Interwetten, PartyGaming and Unibet. EGBA is a Brussels-based non-profit association. It promotes the right of private gaming and betting operators that are regulated and licensed in one Member State to a fair market access throughout the European Union. Online gaming and betting is a fast growing market, but will remain for the next decades a limited part of the overall European gaming market in which the traditional land based offer is expected to grow from € 79.6 Billion GGR in 2009 to € 83.7 Billion GGR in 2012, thus keeping the lion's share with 87% of the market. Source: H2 Gambling Capital, April 2010.

European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA)