Key Takeaways
- Industry organizations have welcomed the EU vote on IMCO’s gambling report—where it matches their own interests, and castigated it where it doesn’t.
- The fundamental conflict between the EU Commission and member states over who should regulate online gambling remains unresolved.
- Also unresolved is whether the free market or consumer protection should take primacy when the extra protection provided is minimal.
- The EU legislative process will continue until the EU Commission, Council of Ministers and parliament find common ground.
- The process will take at least another two years.
The gambling industry has been quick to issue its responses to Tuesday’s vote in the EU Parliament which approved the resolutions on online gambling presented by the Internal Markets and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO).
