Brussels, 17/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Early next month, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU will submit a progress report to the Competitiveness Council on work at the Council in the last six months of this year on the issue of regulating gambling in the member states (see EUROPE 9996). EUROPE has been given a copy of the document, examining three consumer-protection areas - the social and economic problems caused by problem gambling; how to encourage responsible gambling; and member states' rules on advertising. Stressing the importance of respecting subsidiarity in this domain and therefore leaving the member states to decide for themselves, the Swedish government believes that the report will feed the debate at EU level about consumer protection measures. The next two Presidencies of the Council of the EU (Spain and Belgium) have already said that they will continue with this peer review and brainstorming work launched by the Swedish Presidency in the second half of 2008 (during the French Presidency, see EUROPE 9794).
The Swedish Presidency has focussed its attention on binding measures to encourage responsible gambling that can be taken by the member states or by the industry on a voluntary basis. The measures examined in the report are: setting an age limit and checking the age of players; tightening registration criteria for online gambling (cross-checking with official websites, checking that the same bank account is not being used for various gamblers); refusing to authorise gambling by promoting a healthy environment (limiting the number of slot machines in any one area, banning gambling in certain public areas, controlling the abuse of alcohol, etc); introducing special regulations for slot machines (limiting the size of bets and money that can be won or lost, compulsory breaks and warning messages); providing information to gamblers about support networks and hotlines for people addicted to gambling or other problem gamblers; agreements between gamblers and operators to regulate gambling; giving players the option of taking tests to identify problem gambling; setting maximum budgets for gamblers and maximum time that can be spent gambling; giving gamblers the possibility to ban themselves; and drawing up guidelines on advertising (promoting responsible gambling and protecting the vulnerable, for example).
The Swedish Presidency discusses the September 2009 European Court of Justice case “Santa Casa da Misericórdia” (Case C-42/07) justifying the Portuguese state monopoly on gambling in order to protect the public interest (see EUROPE 9972). The Court ruled: “a member state is entitled to take the view that the mere fact that an operator lawfully offers services in that gambling sector via the internet in another member state, in which it is established and where it is already subject to statutory conditions and controls on the part of the competent authorities in that state, cannot be regarded as amounting to a sufficient assurance that national consumers will be protected against the risk of fraud and crime, in the light of the difficulties liable to be encountered in such a context by the authorities of the member state of establishment in assessing the professional qualities and integrity of operators. In this context the Presidency believes that the member states have an interest and right to regulate and control their gambling markets in accordance with their traditions and cultures in order to protect consumers against e.g. addiction, fraud, money-laundering and match fixing in sports. Criminal sanctions, bans of promotion or for example IP-blocking will continue to work according to member state's own provisions and legal priorities.'
Lack of information. Trent University in Nottingham, the UK, published research on Tuesday 17 November comparing and contrasting additive gambling in the EU, research commissioned by the British gambling operator Stanleybet International. The research shows that addition to gambling in the EU is similar to the levels found the rest of the world, some 0.5% to 2% of gamblers being addicted. The highest rates were found in the Netherlands (2.5%), Finland (5.5%), Estonia (6.5%) and Hungary (7%). No information about problem gambling is available for seventeen member states, however. The research points out that there is a paucity of information and huge lack awareness of gambling addiction. In a press release commenting on the research, the Director General of Stanleybet International, Adrian Morris , expresses concern about the action taken by some member states in relation to gambling, which is based more on myth than on facts. (M.B./transl.fl)