Brussels, 18/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - In the online gambling industry there are contradictory interests: - the industry believes that the services it supplies are a service like any other and, with the growth of the internet, it wants a European market with a stable legal framework that protects consumers; - member state governments and public gambling monopolies are jealously guarding their tax income and are hostile to the arrival of cross-border service suppliers competing with the traditional operators; - the European Commission favours an opening of the markets and opens infringement proceedings if the activity of public monopolies infringes the principles of the European Treaty, but it refuses to introduce legislation to harmonise matters at European level. Still hypothetical at the moment, the drawing up of an EU legislative framework would not be able to ignore consumer protection, particularly the protection of children. This was the sentiment that emerged from a conference on young gamblers held on Thursday 17 April 2008 by the EGBA, European Gaming and Betting Association, which brought together MEPs, academics, industry operators and national regulators to discuss the matter.
What European framework? With a turnover of €80 billion in 2007, gambling is growing exponentially. We are all based and authorised in the EU, explained Norbert Teufelberger, joint manager of Bwin. Recommending a sensible regulatory environment that protects the vulnerable, he mentioned the EGBA Charter that sets out minimum requirements for the provision of online gambling - knowing who the consumer is, zero tolerance to fraud and crime, no access for the under-age and full transparency. Defending the freedom of circulation of services on behalf of Unibet, Petter Nylander called for a strictly regulated EU market that provides high consumer protection and recognises a cross-border industry arising on the back of the growth of new technology. The state should regulate rather than operate, he added.
Consumer protection is the key to getting into the market, said Christopher Fjellner (EPP-ED, Sweden), explaining that on the one hand, if operators cannot prove that they are responsible, they will not be able to provide services, and on the other hand, member states have to prove they are interested in consumer protection and should not hide behind the idea of 'responsible gambling' to protect their monopolies. Legal uncertainty is the worst thing for the market and consumers, argued Toine Manders (ALDE, the Netherlands). Opposing all types of monopoly, he said it was a mistake to exclude gambling from the services directive (see EUROPE No. 9307) and shameful that the issue could not be added to the EU political agenda. He pointed out that EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy would not introduce any legislation on gambling. The Commission's being stupid, said Jacques Toubon (EPP-ED, France), because it will not propose a framework that could open the market, protect consumers and prevent unfair competition from illegal operators (forcing internet access suppliers to block the illegal operators' sites). Instead, he said, the Commission is calling for an opening of the market and urging the European Court of Justice to impose this on a case-by-case basis. All the same, he said, the future was a managed opening of the gambling market and the French government was in the process of preparing measures to this effect.
Protecting the under-aged. The industry briefed participants on the tools introduced to prevent children accessing online gambling. Leon Thomas described PartyGaming's ID verification policy. We are in the front line when it comes to checking the age of gamblers, he said. This approach was recognised by Andrew Poole, the director of GamCare, a UK association tackling addiction to gambling. Calling for a ban on free games for children, Poole laid great emphasis on the importance of educating both partners and children about the potential dangers of online gambling. In the United Kingdom, a university study estimates that some 8% of UK teenagers have access to online gambling. Laurent Baup of the French internet rights' forum said that virtually all teenagers these days were connected to the internet and found it difficult to spot the difference between video games, poker and online gambling. He said there were several ways of blocking children from accessing websites with online gambling services, but no system was 100% foolproof. Young people were perfectly capable of signing up without their parents' knowledge by using their parents' bankcards, for example. Once again, this shows the importance of educating people about the dangers. The French poker players' federation is committed to reflection on ethical gambling, explained its president Antoine Dorin. He stressed the limits of the French protection system when it comes to the dangers of gambling, because it relies on the operators themselves and does not make compulsory any controls of the measures in place. He called for the setting up in France of a single authority responsible for coordinating online gambling consumer policy. (M.B.)