EU Commissioner to Clear Up Disputes in the Online Casino Market

February 23, 2010 | News Category: Gaming Law

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The European Union has been struggling to bring all their member countries in line with the laws regarding free trade within the EU, especially where the law concerns online casinos and other online gambling sites.

There are a number of European Union nations that would prefer to continue to operate their online gambling markets in a protectionist manner, with some of these countries recently passing laws that do not support the open market that the EU is meant to be. Spain has recently joined countries such as Greece, Germany and France in their battle to run their online gambling as they wish to, without conforming with the rules as laid out by the EU. The fact that the European Commission reprimanded these countries, and has informed them that they are not following the open market guidelines, has not made a difference to these nations.

All the countries that have refused to comply with the conditions as explained by the European Commission either wishes to protect their own national monopolies, or alternately, they would prefer to give competitive advantages to their own domestic online gambling operations.

Some of those who have refused to comply with the European Union’s guidelines have said that they are doing so because they wish to protect teenagers and young adults from getting addicted to gambling, and also to protect those with online gambling problems. These reasons, however, have been rejected since there are precautionary measures that can be put in place to protect those that need protecting.

The EU has a new Internal Markets Commissioner, Michel Barnier, who plans to address this issue, and has already ordered that a position paper be drafted regarding online gambling. The paper is being written in consultation with members of the European Union. If the College of Commissioners approves it, the green paper will most likely be implemented by the fall.

Malta is estimated to most likely have the second largest gambling industry in the European Union. A representative from the online gambling jurisdiction in Malta commented: "Malta is all for more clarification of the rules but these should not be used to introduce restrictive practices."

While there are many opponents to be found within the EU who do not wish to include Internet gambling as part of the free trade in services that is a trade requirement of the European Union, the online gambling operators generally agree that online gambling should be included in the list for free trade in services. It is felt by most that online gambling operators should be able to operate freely throughout the European Union since the EU is meant to act as a single market for trade in services.