Europe Continues Struggle for Consistency

Members of the European Parliament are urging Europe’s Internal Market to take charge of the online gambling issues and set rules that every nation in Europe will follow. More important than legalizing online gambling is regulating it so that the government can monitor people’s gambling habits and ensure age limits are being followed.

The European Union does not currently represent all of Europe and therefore any rules they set can be overturned by individual nations. This makes it difficult for governments to measure how well their country is doing and whether or not  online gambling causes serious problems.

The Members of European Parliament want regulated online gambling because of their concerns with the effects of gambling on minors, addiction and any illegal business operations.

 Europe Continues Struggle for Consistency 1

Online gambling is a 70 billion Euro industry in Europe and it is understandable that operators want a piece of this revenue. If individual nations are making their own rules concerning online gambling, there could be a disadvantage for certain operators but an advantage for others. For example, France is currently fighting for the rights to govern online gambling in their country by prohibiting international operators from obtaining a license in France. Therefore, only French operators are able to maximize France’s portion of the revenue.

Members of the European Parliament insist that online gambling be regulated and are pushing for that to happen soon.