European Gambling Group Wants Euro-Wide Online Gambling Rules
The European Gaming and Betting Association supports the implementation of Euro-wide online gambling rules. The gambling industry organization stated the position after its presentation before the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.
The EGBA wants a cross-border regulatory framework to cover online gambling. It told gambling industry reports that updating the current rules will reduce red tape in each member state. Also, it will lead to savings. The EU is presently evaluating the success of the Digital Single Market rules.
The EU is looking at the possibility of extending the DSM policies into online gambling. EGBA supports the moving. It believes that placing online betting into DSM can result in £5 billion in consumer and welfare benefits.
EU Online Gambling Rules
Five years ago, the European Commission wanted more consistency in rules to protect consumers. However, only a single member state adopted the recommended rules. The EGBA said that different sets of online gambling rules create barriers to the industry.
Also, the EGBA suggested enforcement tools are counterproductive because they only make players use offshore gambling sites. Some of the tools mentioned by the EGBA include payment blocking. They will just look for other sites where to bet that has no such tool.
Introducing a single set of online gambling rules in Europe is logical. It improves the regulation of the industry. Also, it saves money to both bookie PPH providers and consumers. Lastly, it will help protect consumers better.
By creating a single regulatory framework for online gambling, it will reduce administrative duplication for businesses. At present, a member of the EGBA that offers online betting services in 19 EU states needs to have more than 22 betting licenses.
The EGBA told PricePerPlayer.com that its member companies offering online betting in the EU have more than 134 licenses. That means a lot of money spent on licensing fees alone. Those fees are then funneled into consumer expenses.
