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A newly-established EU Council working group is to present a series of conclusions on gambling before the end of the year, a European Commission official has revealed. The group was established
in July at the behest of the French EU Presidency, ahead of a planned seminar later this month on France’s own plans for online gambling reform.
Speaking at last week’s Balkan Entertainment & Gaming Expo in Sofia, Bulgaria, Konstantinos Dimitriadis, principal administrator in the European Commission’s Services
Directorate, confirmed that a European Council working group had been established this summer at the request of France’s EU Presidency in order to produce a progress report on ongoing
uncertainties surrounding the legal status of cross-border gambling services within the European Union.
Dimitriadis told delegates in Sofia that the question of gambling had become “more and more important at an EU level”, with online sports betting alone forecast to grow from a
market worth in the region of ˆ2-3bn in 2004 to ˆ20.8bn in 2010.
Dimitriadis pointed out that gambling services are currently only covered under two European Union directives (on anti-money laundering and the Transparency Directive regarding notification of
draft legislation affecting technical services).
Their exclusion from e-commerce and services directives has led to the European Court of Justice assuming the crucial role in defining the legal status of cross-border gambling within the EU,
he added.
But Dimitriadis said that ongoing uncertainties are leading to renewed pressures for a legislative solution, adding that EU member states were generally now becoming increasingly aware of the
need to explore alternative regulatory avenues for cross-border gambling within Europe.
“They understand that they have to do something,” he said. “That is why the EU has created this working group within the European Council. They started their discussions on
gambling in the Council in July and we will receive their conclusions in December.
“Maybe the Council will ask the European Commission to present a legislative proposal to regulate online gambling. But for the time being, we do not know what their conclusions will be;
we will find out in December.”
GamblingCompliance understands that the series of questionnaires sent out by the Council to all EU member states were returned at the end of September. The working group is now believed to be
assessing whether the responses indicate any commonality among European countries as to their likely future approaches to gambling regulation.
Sigrid Ligné, secretary general of the European Gaming & Betting Association, said that it was not entirely clear why and for what precise purpose the French European Council
Presidency had decided to establish the working group.
Ligné stressed that the European Commission would not be compelled to act on any findings, however. “The European Commission has the right of initiative within the EU,”
Ligné said. “The working group will have no impact on either the European Commission’s right to introduce legislation or on its scope to pursue infringement proceedings
against EU member states.”
However, close observers believe the previous failures to include gambling under EU directives mean any talk of a gambling-specific directive is premature at best. In particular, sensitivities
surrounding the funding of sport leave any European directive addressing sports betting an “extremely unlikely” prospect, one observer told GamblingCompliance.
Dimitriadis cautioned in Bulgaria that a legislative proposal on one form of gambling service, such as sports betting, may not necessarily be followed across other areas, such as for online
casino games. He suggested that different problem gambling risks attached to different forms of games could mean that member states may legitimately be able to continue to apply restrictions to
certain forms of gambling.
France took over the presidency of the European Union Council in July, less than one month after the country’s Budget Minister Eric Woerth presented President Sarkozy’s Cabinet with
a series of proposed reforms to liberalize France’s online gambling market.
Woerth will be in attendance at a keynote seminar in Paris later this month that will explore the current status of the French gambling reform project. The seminar, hosted by French Senator
Francois Trucy, follows a similar event that took place last year ahead of Woerth’s confirmation in June of France’s plans to open its online gambling market to foreign operators.
The seminar will take place on October 23, and will include contributions from senior officials at French sports associations and at national lottery operator Française des Jeux, as well
as from private gambling companies Bwin and Unibet and French land-based casino operators Tranchant and Partouche.
France is expected to unveil new draft gambling legislation sometime later this year.
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