European regulators need a clear vision to progress their markets, and some are still lacking behind, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has said.

This was said by Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the EGBA, who sat down with SBC News in Lisbon last month to discuss the current gambling landscape across Europe.

Going over the leaders in sensible regulation, Haijer pointed to Denmark as one of the ‘obvious examples’ of regulatory vision and structure that establishes a clear direction for where its market is heading to.

Not mentioned in the discussion but perhaps worthy of being added to those examples is also Belgium, which recently put in motion a six-year regulatory strategy that will see its various Ministries closely collaborating with each other to further develop a sustainable gambling sector.

The Netherlands as the bad example

The Netherlands, however, became an outlier in Haijer’s otherwise praising words for Europe’s gambling authorities – a familiar talking point to many operators which have been struggling with high taxes and strict requirements in the country over the past year or so.

A government fallout earlier this year and the subsequent departure of Teun Struycken, the most important person for gambling policy decisions in the Netherlands, brought the local sector in dismay with tons of expected reforms left hanging in the air.

And that’s not to say that the reforms that did make it through had a positive effect either. After the introduction of deposit limits for example, the Kannspelautoriteit (KSA) regulator estimated that the licensed market has shrunk to 49% compared to the black market’s 51% in terms of GGR.

“By introducing the deposit limits, which for people on the outside might sound nice or logical, the real effect is that people that play more – that you probably want to actually protect more than people that don’t play or play very little – go to the black market,” Haijer said.

At SBC Summit Lisbon, Jesper Svensson, CEO of Betsson Group, somewhat reiterated Haijer’s words by noting that “customers want freedom and licensed operators can’t always provide that”.

Reflecting on that statement, Haijer said: “I agree to the extent that we do need to take the customer in mind. If we put too many obstacles in front of the player it will not work.

“When the player experience is very bad, customers will go somewhere where they can play freely. So I agree. Having said that, we do need to comply with legal requirements.”

Is a unified EU framework possible?

The solution to not only the Netherlands’ struggles with the black market, but also to other EU countries who suffer from black market exposure, might be a harmonised European legislation that establishes a common protection framework against this threat.

In fact, multiple countries have criticised Brussels in the past for that, one of which is surprisingly Bulgaria – a state that on paper is behind Western Europe in terms of gambling regulations.

However, reaching a unified legislation is easier said than done, with Haijer pointing to a plethora of reasons as to why we might not see one in the near future.

For Haijer, the biggest obstacle is that gambling is a national matter, nuanced by all the financial and taxation intricacies of each country. 

Because of this, no one is actively pushing for a unified framework in front of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, hence the current lack of interest by these two legislative bodies.

There is still some hope left though, with Haijer agreeing that a move towards a harmonised legislation “would make sense” given how similar the gambling regulatory laws across member states have become.

At the end of the day, market fragmentation will eventually make or break this idea, especially when it comes to advertising rules that vary between blanket bans and partial blocks all across Europe.

Safer gambling still a priority across Europe

Whatever the outcome, EGBA and its members will continue to promote safe gambling practices through international initiatives such as the European Safer Gambling Week, which brings together regulators, operators, academics and people with lived experience to talk about problem gambling.

It is not unusual for the trade body to communicate directly with government authorities, an example of that being EGBA’s recent appearance on Romanian national TV from the halls of the country’s Parliament, calling for better self-exclusion.

The biggest recent achievement for the organisation, and in many ways reminiscent of a unified EU framework – although completely voluntary – is the successful passing of a national standardisation for markers of harm in the European Committee for Standardisation, backed by a majority of EU member states.

Markers of harm being changes in a player’s online gambling conduct that can potentially lead to a riskier behaviour.

“We hope for a more of a structural approach to some of these things, and we hope this will be the first of more to follow. It will create more attention, more debate, and more willingness to work closely together,” Haijer concluded.