Brussels, 24/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 January, the presidents of the Pari Mutuel Europe (EPMA), European Lotteries (EL) and European Casino Association (ECA) expressed their doubts in a joint letter about the Commission's action plan on online gambling and gaming, published last October. In their letter to the Commissioner responsible, Michel Barnier, the three presidents, Friedrich Stickler (EL), Philippe Germond (EPMA) and Ron Goudsmit (ECA) express their “scepticism”, particularly with regard to consumer protection and online gaming advertising. They also consider that the action plan should focus on the fight against illegal gambling, the proliferation of which is occurring in a cross-border context in the European Union and in third countries. They explained that this phenomenon is facilitated by the development of information society services. They also expressed their fears that the plan developed by the Commission for strict guidelines or a ban, following an assessment carried out at the level of member states, of the most dangerous kind of gaming (with regard to specific risks affecting the sector, such as fraud, money laundering and addiction) would not meet the expectations of the operators.
The presidents complain: “the associations we preside, as well as their members, are delighted with the perspective the European Commission is promoting, through member states adopting measures to guarantee a high level of consumer protection. However, such measures will only apply to legal operators. They will obviously have no effect at all on unauthorised operators, who do not respect the member states' legislation where they provide their services and which are often tax havens… they will not have any effect either on their gaming services, which do not offer European consumers any guarantee in terms of the protection of their assets, payment of their winnings, the integrity of the gaming or protection against excessive gambling”.
The three associations consider that the Commission and its services do not appear to wish to directly tackle the fight against illegal gambling as a priority and instead focus on the regulation of authorised operators, which is the remit of the member states, which have granted them a licence or exclusive rights. The problem is of a cross-border nature and requires a common and vigorous response.
The presidents also say that this applies to governance for advertising. They say that this should not omit the crucial need to ban all commercial communication promoting illegal gambling, wherever this is from, particularly advertising on TV for illegal operators in certain countries through satellite television chains. The three associations consider that measures for tackling illegal operators must be included in the draft recommendations currently being prepared on consumer protection and that these are swiftly adopted by all member states. They say that member states should also closely and consistently cooperate in this task in order to help improve effective implementation.
The three presidents say that they consider that the Commission is not sufficiently taking into account the specificities of their sector, whose activities cannot be considered in the same way as those in other services. They say that they are prepared to meet Barnier to discuss these issues.
On 23 October, the Commission's action plan did not propose a directive but rather, recommendations for member states in three areas: consumer protection, the fight against fraud and protecting the integrity of sport. Many associations already said that they were disappointed by the choice of this instrument, including the private operators who expected tougher action from the Commission to speed up the liberalisation of the sector in all member states and tackle national monopolies. (SP/transl.fl)