European Commission Starts Crackdown on Gambling Legislation

The European Commission has kick started its long awaited move against inconsistent legislation with a strongly worded letter urging changes to Swedish gambling laws. It’s not only the Swedes who are in trouble, though, as a number of other countries have fallen foul of the EC’s wrath, although neither Germany nor France are among them.

The EU and EC have been working together in recent times to draw up a consistent set of regulations they believe should be applied across the unions many online gambling establishments. As such, it has moved against what it considers inconsistent application of rules, especially when it comes to online sportsbooks in Sweden.

The EC also had questions foe Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. This comes after the news that Bulgaria was about to remove their blacklist of online gambling sites.

With mobile casinos starting to take hold across Europe, the EC is keen to ensure its members apply consistent regulations, yet there are a couple of countries conspicuous by their absence. Germany has just failed to award a single sportsbook license, after putting 20 licenses up for bidding. It seems as if the government changed its mind on the regulations at the last minute.

France has also come in for criticism, after Betclic Everest CEO Isabelle Andres criticized the lack of regulation in the country’s online gambling market. Yet these major players seem resistant to EU blame.

Back in Sweden, and the country has been given two months to change their legislation, or else they could face sanctions from the European Court of Justice. Should this happen, more cases are sure to follow.

One thing is for certain: the current climate is a very interesting one across Europe. With mobile casinos gaining popularity by the week, and legislation being amended with regularity, no-one can really know what the next step is for European online gambling.