Online Gambling: Consultation
- DG Market European Commissioner Michel Barnier launched an extensive consultation on online gambling, which will run until 31 July 2011. For now, gambling services are “not regulated by sector-specific regulation at EU level”. In 2003, a Commission proposal was rejected by the European Parliament as well as by the EU Council of Ministers. The Commission has then limited its activity to carry out infringement procedures against the countries where a monopoly on games remained.
- A Green Paper has been issued, summarizing legal and economic features in this sector and detailing significant European legal cases, particularly since 2007. A set of 51 questions was also published, including information requests on national regulatory frameworks, risks prevention, statistic knowledge of the market and expectations. The contributions received will provide further details on the current situation and help define the need for an EU intervention, as well as the shape this intervention should take.
- Online games have been liberalised in France by the law of 12 May 2010, enacted after a Brussels injunction. In June 2007, the Commission had namely required that France dismantle La Française des Jeux’ and PMU’s monopolies for non-compliance with European free competition rules. Not long before, La Française des Jeux had adopted, like other European States lotteries, a code of best practices on sports forecast and prevented participation of under-18 gamblers.
- Those opposed to this liberalisation underlined the increased risk of addiction likely to result from the multiplication of private online games operators, therefore more difficult to monitor. In addition, legal frameworks significantly vary from one Member State to the other. In Gibraltar, operators are imposed a 0.5% tax, compared to a range varying between 1.8% (online games) and 4-6% (bets) in France. The expected payout percentage in France is limited to an average 80 to 85% of the collected stakes, compared to 95% in most of the other countries. The EU intervention could harmonise some of these aspects.
- To this respect, the French Ministry of Budget installed an advisory board on games (Comité Consultatif des Jeux) last 14 March. This organisation is in charge of monitoring and analysing data to improve knowledge of online games consumers’ profiles. The CCJ aims to fight illegal operators, prevent users’ addition to online games and enhance the protection of under-18 customers.