Most European Gaming Regulators Unite to Tackle Online Gaming Challenges
Gaming regulators from 20 of the 28 member countries in the European Economic Zone (EEA) have united to sign a landmark agreement spearheaded by the European Commission (EC) for the purpose of working together on online gaming regulation and to combat unlicensed activity.
According to eGamingReview, the agreement was signed by some of the larger member states in the EEA including Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and France.
This agreement is a result of various discussions and debates between the various national gaming authorities.
The main goals of the agreement are to develop a centralized organization for online gambling on the continent, establish stronger consumer protection procedures for the seven million European Union citizens gambling online, supervise the compliance of national gaming laws, prevent money laundering and fraud, cooperate on match-fixing in sports, assist the wide-variety of gaming authorities, and to share best practices.
In addition, the cooperation of member states in the EEA should, in the long-term, benefit gaming operators with reduced costs in complying with the differentiating gaming regulations in place.
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), a body representing privately-owned European-licensed gaming operators, is enthusiastic about the new agreement.
"The signing of the cooperation agreements between the EU’s Gambling Authorities is a crucial step in building trust and confidence in this inherently cross-border sector," said EGBA Secretary General Maarten Haijer.
Furthermore, the EGBA hopes the new agreement will help combat the ever-growing unlicensed gaming sector in Europe.
"We encourage the authorities to address with priority unnecessary administrative costs that make the regulated offer less competitive than the unregulated offer," stated Haijer.
Individual gaming regulators are also hopeful the new agreement will lead to streamlined gaming regulation frameworks, which in turn would reduce costs for gaming operators.
MGA’s Executive Chairman Joseph Cuschieri elaborated on the authority's website that, "This agreement is a result of various discussions and debates between the various national gaming authorities and credit goes to the officials working in DG-GROW as well as to the representative officials of the various regulatory bodies who collectively worked towards this significant multilateral achievement."
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