Can the regulatons of online players\u27 protecton be harmonised?

Abstract - The characteristics, ongoing expansion and cross-border nature of online gambling renders it very difficult for any individual State to provide adequate safeguards for their consumers. Equally, legitimate international gambling operators struggle to comply with the myriad of varied regulatory requirements and lack of regulatory convergence hinders their ability to develop safer, yet, attractive offer that would divert players’ attention from unregulated sites. Even though the adoption of common standards alone would substantially facilitate better players’ protection, there seems to be little appetite for any harmonising measures. Even a mere cooperation at regional level between the Member States of the European Union is difficult to reach and protectionist attitudes remain strong. The EU Commission’s Recommendation 2014/478/EU on the principles for the protection of consumers and players of online gambling services that was followed by a further cooperation agreement of 2015 aimed to change that by setting out minimum requirements and by encouraging greater trust between national authorities. This paper evaluates current statutory and regulatory provisions of 30 EU/EEA Member States to evaluate the extent to which the Recommendation encouraged greater consistency between Member States and where further work and perhaps stronger harmonising measures are needed. Implication statement - By evaluating regulatory measures from 30 European States, the paper demonstrates that, in substance, most EU jurisdictions have broadly similar objectives and differences tend to be only formal. This should facilitate better understanding of the distinctions and may allow for better identification of where common standards may indeed be adopted