RGA blasts EC for closing online gambling cases

The RGA questioned the European Commission’s decision to close all infringement cases against countries that breach laws with online gambling regulations.

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has complained about the European Commission’s decision to close all infringement cases against countries that don’t comply with European laws with their online gambling regimes.

The RGA said that the move was highly questionable as there’s no logical explanation as to why there was no legal assessment of the merits of the cases. The association believes that countries that unfairly restrict or ban online gaming are blatantly breaching EU laws, and that’s why they launched individual infringement proceedings against certain members of the union.

The RGA said that the Commission had at least a case to answer those claims as they reconsidered discrimination against online gambling companies legally based and licensed in the territory.

Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the Remote Gambling Association, said: “The existence of infringement proceedings and the Commission’s subsequent pressure on Member States to comply with EU law has helped with the introduction of many effective and sensible regulatory regimes for online gambling across Europe. However, many other cases have been left to languish for several years and many unlawful restrictions to the free provisions of services have yet to be addressed.”

He added that in those circumstances, they are of course dismayed that, with regard to the Internal Market, the Commission has effectively abandoned the sector and given a free pass to non-compliant regimes. “However, we will continue to work with Member States with the aim of establishing EU-compliant regimes that would benefit European consumers, the online gambling industry, and national governments,” he added.