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Europe Seeks United Online Gambling Legislation
14 Aug 2006
The European Union has, by and large, been successful in grouping its member states together under a common currency, trade laws and labor legislation. However, there is one area that Europe is struggling with and that is related to online gambling. While some European countries are extremely open minded toward online gambling, others have headed off into a totally different direction and have prohibited online gambling altogether. How is Europe to draft common legislation with these facts in mind?
The approach toward online gambling is generally divided into three among European countries. Liberal European countries take a compliant approach that demands the highest level of standards to ensure fairness. These countries have the well being of both gambling operators and players in mind and they address serious gambling matters such as money laundering and under-age wagering. Some small European jurisdictions take on a ‘laissez-faire’ policy that rely on self-regulation but have little funds or means to fulfill matters pertaining to consumer protection and fairness. Finally certain traditional European countries prohibit most forms of online gambling.
With so many different extremes in Europe, it is difficult to think that the continent will ever find an approach to online gambling that will satisfy all its members. If a middle-ground approach is taken, it will always seem too liberal or too restrictive for many countries. Perhaps this is one area where each country should be able to decide for itself.
