Bwin boss Norbert Teufelberger put aside his PartyGaming merger glue-gun long enough to make a plea for seizing the momentum created by newly regulated markets in France and Italy to push for a harmonized regulatory structure that would encapsulate all the EU’s member nations.
While Barnier agreed that an online gaming operator licensed in one particular member state should be allowed to offer services to members in another state, that state can always opt out ‘for pressing reasons of public interest’. You might remember this broadly defined clause from your childhood years, when you’d ask your parents why something had to be a certain way, and they replied “Because I said so.”
Anyway, Barnier’s green paper will be available Nov. 9. Until then, Europe’s gamblers will have to content themselves with their ‘My MEP went to Responsible Gaming Day and all I got was this lousy T-shirt’ souvenir.