Whilst the majority of the European online gambling industry is awaiting the publication of an EU-wide public consultation on the igaming industry, another Europe-wide association has come out with an opinion ahead of the consultation.
In an interview with EurActiv.com, Sigrid Ligne, secretary general of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), explained her group’s opinion that the consultation must produce “harmonized rules” to govern the market.
“Online gambling is a cross-border market. Consumption is cross-border as well. Clearly there’s a strong need for harmonized rules,” said Ligné.
“We think there is good momentum for the EU to assume strong leadership in this area.”
It comes a day after the European Sponsorship Association (ESA) also weighed in with their opinion ahead of the consultation as they also seek to make sure the rules correlated across national borders.
The EGBA, which represents a number of online gaming industry firms, such as bwin, Unibet, BetClic, and PartyGaming, also saw their secretary general, Ligne, add, “Clearly better enforcement of internal market and competition rules in our sector would allow it to contribute fully to the European economy.
“It’s a high-level technology area and therefore the policy challenges faced are a clear test case for the digital internal market.”
Ligne’s views are similar to those made last week by Khalid Ali of the European Sports Security Association (ESSA), the group responsible for monitoring illegal betting patterns across the continent.
The EU Internal Market Commissioner, Michel Barnier, will bring the public consultation on the EU online gambling industry to the table a week later than planned (24 March) and companies will look on with interest at the outcome.
CalvinAyre.com will report any news on the consultation as we have it so be sure to check the tablog to find out what this exciting consultation has in store for online gambling in Europe.
