Online betting ‘does not lead to gambling addiction’
Commission publishes report on online betting.
Making betting online easier does not result in more people suffering gambling addiction, a European Commission report has concluded.
The Commission, which has been consulting on whether there should be European Union legislation in the field of online gambling, held a series of workshops with health and gambling experts to inform their decisions. The Commission published a green paper on online gambling in March, provoking intensive lobbying on a matter that is highly sensitive for many countries.
Regulation is currently a matter for member states, despite the increasingly cross-border nature of betting. Some countries prohibit online gambling, while in others it has been largely liberalised.
In a decision that has heartened the online gambling industry but infuriated traditional betting organisations, the Commission ruled on 20 September that Denmark could impose lower rates of tax on online gambling companies compared with those on traditional ‘land-based’ casinos.
Online gambling companies have also been encouraged by the conclusions of the workshops organised by the Commission, which are expected to feed into the consultation results.
A report based on one workshop says that access to online gambling products “does not appear to have given rise to problem development or addiction at a higher rate than in the offline environment”.
It goes further, to suggest that regulated online gambling “provides good opportunities for close monitoring of individual gambling behaviour and early detection of problem development”.
A separate workshop focused on systems of revenue distribution. The report said evidence suggested that there was only “marginal cannibalisation” – principally, a loss of revenue – where online gambling is liberalised and regulated.
Members of the European Parliament’s internal market and consumer protection committee are due to vote on 6 October on a report drawn up by Jürgen Creutzmann, a German Liberal MEP. He wants online gambling to be made legal throughout the EU, while avoiding the introduction of state monopolies.
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