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EC Commissioner Denies Gambling Expert Group Reformation
By Shane Addinall Aug 01, 2021 IndustryThe European Commission disregards a multi-regulator call for the re-establishment of the Expert Group on Online Gambling to help shape the future of a growing and socially impactful industry.On the 15th of February 2021 the Chairman of the Executive Board of Kansspelautoriteit, René Jansen, sent a thoughtful and detailed letter to European Commissioner Thierry Breton regarding the reformation of the now-defunct Expert Group on Online Gambling.
Far from being one lone voice in the recognition of the challenges facing the various gambling regulators that make up the European Union, Jansen’s letter had the open support of fourteen market supervisors.
Fallen on Deaf Ears
The call for the reinstallation of an oversight body to help EU members align their gambling regulations, safer gambling practices and AML activities is a sound one. Jansen has gone on record with his concerns that “no EU framework for gambling regulators to even communicate, let alone to jointly tackle the big issues”.
Considering the socio-economic impact of the regulated EU online gambling market, one would assume that a small team of experts is a small ask. Especially since they would be able to positively influence everything from job creation to social awareness initiatives to international cooperation, however, European Commissioner Thierry Breton felt the request had no merit.
In response to a personal and impassioned missive from Jansen, which contained the signatures of all supervisors who showed support for the gambling group, Breton’s response was a form rejection of the request emailed in by one of Breton’s associates.
Breton’s respondent merely notes that as per his request they are sorry to inform Jansen and the “representatives of national regulators who signed the letter” that as the EC has not “actively following gambling-related issues” since they disbanded the original Expert Group and for this reason, the “Directorate General does not intend to reverse this decision”.
Passing The Buck
In addition to what can clearly be labelled an out of hand dismissal, the letter continues to direct the attention of Jansen and his co-signers to farm out their various concerns across several different Director Generals, saying:
“However, the letter you sent us addresses many different policy issues which are related to gambling but fall under the responsibility of other Commission services, such as in the areas of anti-money laundering (DG FISMA), consumer and youth protection (DG JUST), the prevention of addiction (DG SANTE) or issues of taxation (DG TAXUD). I, therefore, encourage you to get in touch with these DGs for those matters that fall under their competency.”
The response from Breton’s office is tone-deaf, completely missing, or ignoring, the issue that lies at the core of the original request, the need for a central support structure to guide a burgeoning and evolving online gambling sector.
While there is obvious merit in dealing with the various Director General’s listed in the response, this would simply add to the challenges the jurisdictional regulators face as they would now be involved in half a dozen individual projects, each with their own delegates, timelines, and directives rather one having these all housed under one gambling-focused team.
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