New Internal Markets Commissioner to tackle online gambling confusion.

There have been many articles in recent months about the confusion over online gambling regulations within the EU but there is now a newly appointed Internal Markets Commissioner who says he wishes to tackle the confusion and may even prepare a Green Paper on the subject. The Commissioner, Michel Barnier, said “ I want to launch a constructive dialogue with the Parliament and member states and concerned stakeholders”. There is no doubt that current legislation is being interpreted in different ways in different member states with some saying that governments can restrict online casinos in certain cases (usually those with state monopolies)  and others being adamant that local legislation cannot override EU law. The Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association, Sigrid Ligné, was positive on the news saying “With several member states currently reforming their gaming and betting legislation, this is an important confirmation that the Commission will not stand by while member states introduce restrictions that go against fundamental principles of the EU”. “We believe that the respect of Internal Market rules in our sector will promote high standards and improve the protection of players throughout the EU”

From our perspective we welcome the statement as we believe that freedom of choice for gamblers is important but past efforts have not been successful to curb countries such as France or the Netherlands so seeing will be believing.