RGA Issues Online Gambling Regulation Guidelines

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Remote Gambling Association (RGA) is a London and Brussels based trade association of the Europe's largest and most respected online gambling companies. Its members include software providers like Microgaming and Playtech and operators like Virgin Games. RGA is committed to promoting a regulated and non-discriminatory environment for responsible licensed operators to offer online gambling services. Currently in Europe many countries have established their own regulatory mechanisms for online gambling and others are in the process of doing so. Not only are these mechanisms different from each other but they do not comply fully with the European Union provisions in this regard.

RGA used the recently concluded EiG expo and conference in Milan to launch its latest publication, a guide titled "Online Gambling: Key objectives for a successful regulatory and tax framework". The publication outlines the important issues that governments and regulators need to consider when establishing regimes for the private sector online gambling industry. RGA chief executive Clive Hawkswood explained that the guidelines are primarily for those who are just contemplating legalizing and regulating private online gambling operators within their jurisdictions. He said, "Our message to them is that working in partnership with responsible operators and building modern remote gambling regimes that balance consumer interests and commercial opportunities presents the greatest prospect for new remote frameworks to be successful from a social and fiscal perspective."

"Online Gambling: Key objectives for a successful regulatory and tax framework" is a 16 page booklet that has three main sections – Key regulatory objectives, Taxation and Remote gambling verticals. RGA defines key objectives for a regulatory authority as to provide fair and competitive online gambling, to protect the young and vulnerable, to provide a crime free environment and to ensure that the products are attractive to consumers. The regulatory mechanism begins with legislation, which should be as forward looking as possible. Other issues that should be considered include product ranges, social responsibility, role of regulator, integrity of sport and nature of advertising. RGA recommends the use of third party services for establishing the identity of the player.

The taxation section highlights that revenue generation through taxation is an important objective for nations and states that sanction online gambling. But regulatory authorities have to realize that the burden of taxation ultimately falls on the players and higher rates of taxation will drive customers to the illegal unregulated market. RGA recommends tax on gross profits as the ideal taxation model.

The third section describes the various product verticals, how they are structured and how they generate revenues for the online gambling operators. This section will be directly useful for players. In conclusion the RGA publication says that for online gambling, regulation is not a one time effort, but a continuous process. This is because online gambling is a relatively new industry and is currently facing fast paced technological innovations.

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