EU Gambling Market should Learn from Australian and New Zealand Peers
Recently, there are rumours that the national regulators of the EU countries will actively take up online casinos from Australia and New Zealand, which do not always have legal status in European countries. This looks, at least, strange, because in these states their activities are at least clearly regulated by local regulatory authorities based on unambiguously spelled outlaws. In the meantime, there is a legislative confusion in the European Union – with generally good integration of legislation and free movement of citizens, there is no single policy regarding gambling. Even without realizing that he managed to cross the border, a gambler may be faced with the fact that he severely violates local laws, although in his homeland he would be fully justified!
A striking example is a ban on the use of credit cards to fund an online casino account. The UK, which has already left the EU, previously managed to adopt such a law, and Germany did the same, and now the topic is being actively discussed in Spain. The logic is obvious: being overly carried away, the gambler begins to gamble with money that does not belong to him, and this risks ruining his life. But as long as the rules do not apply everywhere in the European Union, and there are no pronounced borders, all these measures are still fictitious because they can be deliberately bypassed or violated by accident!
Australia and New Zealand are among the most gambling countries in the world, and this is a problem that local activists do not forget. However, Australian regulator ACMA, for example, requires special accreditation from each local player, and if not, the casino is considered an infringer. Against the background of such strict rules, it is the European gambling market that looks unregulated and uncontrolled.