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A shift in Europe's political landscape toward unconventional and right-wing politics offers the gambling industry an opportunity to influence lawmakers and collaboratively tackle the rising global threat of illegal gambling, senior industry figures have said.
European Casino Association (ECA) chairman Erwin van Lambaart said recent EU elections and the Polish presidency of the Council of the EU, which began on January 1, could have a very positive impact on the future growth of gambling.
Speaking at the Casino and Leaders Conference at ICE in Barcelona on Monday (January 20), van Lambaart said that of 720 recently elected members of the European Parliament (MEPs), 54 percent are fresh faces and many “don’t know anything about our industry”.
“It is our job to educate them,” he said.
“The main difference is there are new politicians, and policymakers, and energy in Brussels which is great for the momentum of advocating for big changes in the European market,” said van Lambaart, who is also director general of Casinos Austria.
His comments follow media reports that suggest Poland will use its six-month presidency of the Council to explore reinvigorating a working group on gambling.
The EU's Expert Group on Gambling Services met for the last time in December 2018. Despite making little progress on a goal of cross-border harmonisation of gambling rules, it was popular with many regulators as a mechanism for fostering cooperation.
However, Poland’s Presidency Programme, which outlines its intentions for the six-month term, does not mention gambling.
Looking to the future, the ECA has five focuses: promoting economic growth; protecting consumers; fighting crime; speeding up innovation; and promoting fair competition.
However, one key challenge is binding the ECA’s objectives to the wider fight against illegal gambling, which it says costs EU member states €10bn ($10.4bn) in tax revenues annually.
“Millions of euros are not going to licensed operators or being taxed. Instead, it is going to illegal businesses. We want lawmakers and other stakeholders to work with us to stop that,” van Lambaart said.
Ismail Vali, founder and CEO of Yield Sec, estimated that illegal gambling accounts for 73 percent of global gambling market share and was worth $5.7trn in 2014, further highlighting its threat to and impact on licensed markets and consumers.
Vali highlighted a range of reasons for the growth in illegal gambling, with each continent posing unique challenges to the legal market.
The Americas have seen rapid growth in recent years with varying degrees of regulation; bans and new regulations in Africa, coupled with “explosive growth”, have helped sow the seeds for aggressive illegal activity; advanced regulations and resulting product changes have been a key issue in Europe and the UK; and “explosive growth” and restrictions on marketing have fed a booming underground market in the Asia-Pacific region, Vali said.
ECA members hail from 20 countries, including the UK, and represent more than 700 land-based casinos. More than half of the members also offer online gambling.
