The European Gaming & Betting Association (EGBA), welcomes today’s decision by the European Commission to challenge two of the largest EU gambling monopolies by sending a reasoned opinion to Sweden and France and by pursuing infringement proceedings against Greece.
“As the guardian of the EU Treaty, the Commission has taken another important step towards removing unjustified restrictive national measures and creating a level playing field and a single market across the EU. The measures designed to protect national or regional markets do nothing to serve the population of the EU - they are discriminatory, inconsistent and clearly against both progress and simple single market principles”, says EGBA Secretary-General Sigrid Ligné. “While this is an important step forward, we urge Finland, Hungary, Denmark and now Sweden and France to follow the clear requests of the Commission to bring their legislation in conformity with EU law. It is time now for the Governments to accept a dialogue with the leading European operators and to seek the development of sustainable and fair regulation in order to prevent lengthy court actions.”
Today’s decision to send a Reasoned Opinion against Sweden shows that the Commission’s infringement procedures can be suspended only on the basis of solid evidence that the national authorities are in the process of bringing the targeted national legislation in full conformity with EU law.
The EGBA hopes that France’s new government will understand that accepting the principles laid down in the EU Treaty and working closely with the European Commission is the only way to meaningfully regulate the gambling and betting industry in Europe, an industry that like many other sectors, now transcends state borders through the Internet. Proper regulation and control of this increasingly popular activity is the only sensible way forward as demonstrated in several other EU Member States, including the UK.
OPAP, the Greek national monopoly, has over the years continued to maximise its profits, expanding its activities beyond the Greek borders while preventing a fair access of EU operators to its market. “The decision to open an infringement procedure against Greece was widely expected since the purpose of OPAP is clearly not to seek a genuine decrease of gambling opportunities” says Ligné.
Sigrid Ligné also said: “To claim that only closed, nationally monopolistic markets can protect the consumer when it comes to gambling services is clearly untrue. It is a fact that EGBA’s Code of Conduct applies to all of its members in addition to their national legal requirements, and is independently verified. It requires additional standards of consumer protection and social responsibility that match or even exceed those established by many EU gambling monopolies.” In particular, the Code seeks to address a number of key concerns such as problem gambling and by ensuring that children are prevented from playing and that vulnerable players are properly protected. “In our view, European adults have the right to use the Internet for gambling services if they so choose and should be able to access properly regulated and legitimate service providers, irrespective of their location in the EU. Ultimately, the nature of the Internet means that the best way to guarantee that all public and private actors comply with appropriate rules and regulations would be to agree on a framework at the EU level” says Sigrid Ligné.
press release EBGA
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