Will EU Countries Regulate Online Gambling?
2nd December, 2009
Some of Europe’s top gaming operators seem to be split over whether or not some of the major EU economies will regulate online marketing according to eGaming Review.
Bwin’s co-chief executive Manfred Bodner, Ladbrokes head of egaming Ed Andrewes and Unibet’s CEP Petter Nylander spoke at EGR Live and expressed optimism that the European countries will opt for more open regulated gaming like what has been adopted in the UK and Italy.
However, this optimism was in stark contrast to Mark Davies, MD of Betfair, and Nicolas Beraud, Chief executive of Bet click and chief operating officer of Mangas Gaming.
Andrewes said, “The UK shows a mainstream model and I think Italy will also show other countries how to regulate sensibly. Gambling has already become much more of a mainstream activity, and people increasingly quote odds on sports events and even news because it shows the likelihood of something happening.”
Unibet’s Petter Nylander agreed, further commenting, “The mass market will be a challenging environment for everyone but it has evolved: Italy has shown the way.”
Bwin co-chief executive Manfred Bodner said, “This is all about money as we know, and the Italians have proved that you can make a hell of a lot more money for the state through taxes than you can on state monopolies. If France had paid more attention to Italy, its new system would be a better one, but I believe it will change in time.”
However, according to Nicolas Beraud of Mangas, the draft French legislation would make operating in Franc impossible. Lobbying efforts to lower taxes and allow more competition with France’s Francais Des Jeux (FDJ) and Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) monopolies have remained to be difficult
Beraud said: “The situation in France is not a good one. If ones looks at the draft regulation, the tax is just huge and it will be impossible to make money. At Mangas Gaming we are trying to explain that present policies are only to protect monopolies, but to do lobbying in France is very hard - the monopolies are very strong.”
Betfair’s MD, Mark Davies agreed, “We have been talking to [French regulators] for a long time and it has made sod all difference, if I’m frank. This is because it is not a rational debate that is being held. If I were a French politician, and deeply entrenched families are telling me that if I back a group of upstarts from another country it will go horribly wrong and it will be my head on the chopping block in a year’s time, and I also have a group of overseas upstarts telling me that not backing them means it will also go horribly wrong, but only in 15 to 20 years time when I’m long retired, I know what I would do. So I have some sympathy for the politicians - although that is not to say that I think they have come out with sensible policies in any way, shape or form.”
Decisions over French gambling laws have been pushed back until summer 2010.
By Faye
