EU Commissioner Deals With Online Gambling Concerns

The new EU Internal Markets Commissioner, Michel Barnier, has promised to speedily address issues concerning Internet gambling with a plan defining the EC position, especially since several countries are at varying levels of non-cooperation with EU conventions regarding online casinos and open markets.

France, Germany, Greece, and some other member nations have declined to alter their online gambling regulations to follow EU requirements, even after being advised to do so by EC informed opinions.

The main reason appears to be that the online gambling regulations in these countries give local operators or state-owned monopolies an advantage over private European providers of online gambling services.

The private gambling operators, represented by business associations like the Remote Gaming Association and the European Gaming and Betting Association, are insisting on the implementation of free trade in online gambling and the formation of a united gambling market in Europe.

There's also a watchdog association, known as Right2Bet, which advocates the rights of private providers. They recently produced some viral videos: parodies depicting the EU authorities as a "Renegade Referee" imposing arbitrary regulations on innocent members of the public.

However, EU legislation is blocking these consumer choice videos, because in countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands they are grouped under the "online gambling" category.