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EC Says No to Belgium Gambling Laws - 07-01-09 |
July 1 - The European Commission has nixed another draft legislation for gambling, after it found that the bill proposed by Belgium for its gaming and sports betting market fell short of expectations.
The bill was proposed earlier in the year and approved by the country's Council of Ministers. Part of the process to have the bill finalized was having it notified to the European Commission.
However, it was soon shown that the bill did not meet the expectations set up by the European Commission for a more global approach to gambling markets and that many of the issues were not acceptable under EC law.
A study on the Belgian draft was carried out by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and many of the shortfalls were pointed out to the EC.
These included the requirement under the law that gambling operators be established in Belgium in order for them to be considered 'legal'.
"The requirement for operators to be established in Belgium is one of the clearest violations of EC Treaty provisions," noted the Director for Regulatory Affairs at EGBA, Maarten Haijer. "It wrongly denies that many online gaming operators are effectively regulated, licensed and controlled elsewhere in the EU. As several jurisdictions in the EU already prove, it is possible to guarantee a high level of consumer protection and have a well regulated and competitive online gaming and betting market at the same time."
The EC has issued a Detailed Opinion on the new proposal, meaning that Belgium cannot adopt the law until at least July 30th, 2009.
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