A number of MEPs urged Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier to come up with common rules to regulate cross border online gambling in Europe.
The European Parliament site shared that many MEPs have expressed concern over the impact of gambling on minors, addiction and money laundering.
It highlighted that with state lotteries being a €70 billion industry in Europe online firms are hoping to break into the national market. This has brought tension and the European Court of Justice has upheld the right of nations to regulate online gambling.
The tension between the EU’s internal market and the right of national regulators to monitor the trade lies at the heart of the legal confusion over online gambling. At present, no rules on online gambling exist. Several countries have tried to ban cross-border online betting and the European Commission launched proceedings against them for flouting internal market rules. However, the court's decision to uphold a case where Portugal banned a company based in Gibraltar has shaken things up, stated the site.
For his part, Barnier reportedly said that he came to talk about a new approach. “These are not services just like any other. Fighting cross-border crime without a European approach is impossible. We have to have strict limits so that minors can’t play and on this we need EU coordination.”
