European Online Gambling Progress

0 Comments   Email   Print

The many countries in Europe are progressing towards some sort of online gambling regulation in their own way and at their own pace. Therefore one or the other is always in the news. The latest updates are from Bulgaria, Finland and the United Kingdom.

In 2008 the Bulgarian government decided to embark on the legalization of online gambling with a tax on profit at 17% and state monopolized sports betting. Accordingly, Bulgaria had sent its revised draft online gambling regulatory legislation to the European Commission (EC) for approval this May. Unfortunately, the proposal has again been rejected as per reports in the local media.

One of the key areas of complaint was the restrictions on advertising. Without advertising online casino operators will not be able to muster the numbers to make their web sites viable. Other objections by the EC are believed to relate to the requirements that applicants for licenses must have five years of experience in the Bulgarian market, Bulgarian banks must be used for transactions and a practical presence in the country will have to be established. There are over 200 online gambling web sites that offer wagering in Bulgarian language and both Lev and Euro as the currency.

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) was quick to issue a warning that the Bulgarians need to consider the views of the EC if they want to offer a commercially viable model for online gambling. EGBA secretary general Sigrid Ligne said, "Some of the main requirements in the bill are not something that would motivate any operator to take a license. There are lots of question marks still. We need to see how the government responds to the detailed opinion."

In Finland, the state-owned lottery operator, Veikkaus has established a subsidiary with the objective of expanding into Russia, China and the USA. Veikkaus vice president, Olli Sarekoski, said that the subsidiary will be operational by July 2011. The subsidiary will not seek licensing in these countries but will look to form alliances with traditional gambling operators, system vendors and media companies. Veikkaus is targeting markets outside of the European Union to prevent jeopardizing its own monopoly.

The UK government Department of Culture, Media and Sport has decided to appoint a select committee to review the gambling industry in general and the Gambling Act 2005 in particular. The committee will seek contributions from gambling operators on issues like the effectiveness and the impact of the Act and the effectiveness of the Gambling Commission. It is hoped that the committee would also take up the issue of offshore online gambling operators advertising in the UK market and the high taxation rate on online gambling.

News Item Tools

 Email     Print     Digg     Del.icio.us    StumbleUpon

Comments

 Add Comment

Add Comment

More News