QED Lunch Debate March 19, 2013, Brussels Legisla(ng European Gambling Legislating Online Gambling in Europe A Brief Context What s next on the EU Agenda? Produced for QED Lunch Debate March 19, 2013, Brussels.
Trend towards point of consumption legislation 2 Source: Market Barriers A European Online Gambling Study 2012 + updates 2013.
... licensing numbers & products vary as do national rules Germany 20 sports betting licences yet to be awarded Belgium 7 A+ (casino), 27 B+ (low stake casino) and 7 F1+ (betting) licences. Denmark 40 companies and 190 websites. 16 betting, 29 casino (plus 3 restricted revenue betting and 7 restricted revenue casino operators). Schleswig-Holstein 23 sports betting, 23 online casinos Estonia 6 operators, casino and betting among games France 22 licensed companies with 51 websites. Categories: 16 circle (poker), 9 sports, and 8 horse betting Poland 3 betting operators Spain 274 licences (90 general and 184 singular) to 52 companies. Breaking general licences further: 44 other games (casino, bingo and other games); 28 betting and 18 contests). Italy 100+ companies, 400+ websites offering most verticals such as betting, poker, online slots 3
Bi-lateral agreements have emerged as a cross-border regulatory tool UK ARJEL, France Denmark Alderney Gambling Control Commission Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner Jersey Gambling Commission Lotteries and Gaming Authority, Malta France AAMS, Italy Gambling Commission, UK DGOJ, Spain Spain ARJEL, France Malta Danish Gambling Authority Jersey Gambling Commission Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission Alcohol & Gaming Commission, Ontario Italy ARJEL, France 4
...and member state legislation which ring-fence markets 5
...as have blacklists / blocking lists Belgium 64 websites on blacklist Estonia 680 websites on blocking list Italy 4,296 websites on blocking list Cyprus 456 websites 6 on blocking list
...however effectiveness questioned Norway Evaluation of payment blocking Italy Experience with website blocking 7
Over the years, the CJEU, the main forum Germany C-409/06 Winner Wetten September 8, 2010 Joined cases C-316/07, C-358/07 to C-360/07, C-409/07 and C-410/07 Markus Stoß - September 8, 2010 C-46/08 Carmen Media - September 8, 2010 Westlotto and Digibet [PENDING] Finland C-124/97 Läärä - September 21, 1999 UK C-275/92 Schindler March 24, 1994 Netherlands C-203/08 Betfair v The Minister of Justice June 3, 2010 The Netherlands C-258/08 Ladbrokes v De Lotto June 3, 2010 The Netherlands France C-212/08 Zeturf - June 30, 2011 Portugal C-42/07 Santa Casa September 8, 2009 Italy C-67/98 Zenatti October 21, 1999 C-243/01 Gambelli November 6, 2003 C-338/04 Placanica March 6, 2007 Latvia C-470/11 Garkalns July 19, 2012 Sweden C-447/08 Sjöberg and Gerdin July 8, 2010 Poland Joined cases C-213/11 Fortuna, C-214/11 Grand and C-217/11 Forta - July 19, 2012 Austria C-64/08 Ernst Engelmann - September 9, 2010 C-347/09 Dickinger and Ömer - September 15, 2011 C-176/11 HIT and HIT LARIX - July 12, 2012 C-390/12 Pfleger Greece and Others Joined [PENDING] cases C-186/11 and C-209/11 Stanleybet and Others January 24, 2013 Joined cases C-72/10 Costa and C-77/10 Cifone - February 16, 2012 Joined cases C-660/11 and C-8/12 Biasci and Others [PENDING] 8
...and European Commission, via initiated infringement proceedings Member State Austria Games Land-based Casinos Step 1 of the procedure: Letter of formal notice October 2006 Step 2 of the procedure: Reasoned Opinion Proceedings suspended in June 2007 Infringement Proceedings Formerly Closed Yes (March 2009) Czech Information has not being made available yet. No Republic Denmark Sports Betting April 2006 March 2007 Yes Finland Sports Betting April 2006 March 2007 No (but the legislation has changed since) France Online Sports and Horserace Betting October 2006 June 2007 Yes (November 2010) Germany Sports Betting and Online Games of Chance April 2006 and January 2008 N/A. No (but the legislation has changed since) Greece Sports Betting June 2007 February 2008 No (but the legislation has changed since) Hungary Sports Betting April 2006 March 2007 No (but the legislation has changed since) Italy Sports Betting and Online Games of Chance April and October 2006 Proceedings suspended in June 2007 The Sports Betting April 2006 February 2008 No Netherlands Slovenia Information has not being made available yet. No Sweden Sports Betting and Porker Games and Tournaments April 2006 for Sports Betting and January 2008 for Poker June 2007 for Sports Betting No Yes (May 2012) 9
...and don t forget complaints 80+ complaints from gambling businesses lodged with European Commission (circa Feb 2013). 10
European Commission s approach Michel Barnier dialogue approach The Green Paper Consultation The Communication on Online Gambling - Towards a comprehensive European framework for online gambling action plan Priority areas national laws comply with EU law improving administrative cooperation and enforcement consumer protection preventing fraud safeguarding the integrity of sports 11
Action Plan: exploring European added value 2012 Commission letters to 20 member states Creation of expert group on gambling, meetings ongoing Extending AML directive to all forms of gambling 2013 2014 Publish a recommendation on common protection of consumers Publish a recommendation on responsible gambling advertising Explore possibility of EU standard on gambling equipment Explore benefits and limits of enforcement measures Support benchmarking and testing of parental control tools Suggests a behavioural study on online gambling Explore use of IMI regulation Goal to create a common set of consumer protection principles Consider initiatives for a research policy on gambling disorders Recommendation on best practices in the prevention and combating betting related match-fixing Publish initiative on notice-and-action procedures re unauthorised internet content hosted by ISPs 12
Subsidiarity to Active Subsidiarity + Added Value to... Subsidiarity +...a pure Internal Market approach is not appropriate in this highly sensitive area... European Parliament 2004-2009 Report on the integrity of online gambling, Committee of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Rapporteur: Christel Schaldemose Subsidiarity + Active Subsidiarity +...in some areas there would be clear added value from a coordinated European approach... European Parliament 2009-2014 Report on online gambling in the internal market, Committee of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Rapporteur: Jürgen Creutzmann...so, what is next? 13
Thank you! For a digital copy of this presentation or an explanation of the underlying material please feel free to contact me on the details below. This presentation has been based on material available on GamblingCompliance.com and the following publications: UK Headquarters US Headquarters Regional offices 91 Waterloo Road London SE1 8RT Tel: +44(0)207 921 9980 Fax: +44(0)207 960 2885 Suite 200 DC 20036 Buenos Aires, Sydney and Taipei 1250 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington D.C, United States Tel: 1-888747-5597 Fax: 1-888436-4085 Laurie Korpi, Legal and Research Director, International. laurie@gamblingcompliance.com GamblingCompliance Ltd. 2013 14