European gambling watchdogs thicken ties on cross-border illegal gambling monitoring, action

• European regulators are cognizant of the need for cross-border cooperation to start making a dent in illegal gambling
• The continent is awash with illegal gambling, which is already outpacing the regulated market, and the trend is likely to continue
• Coordinated action from regulators could potentially lead to more meaningful and impactful results

Gambling regulators across Europe are rising to the challenge of illegal online gambling, which is eating into potential tax revenue and the overall health of the regulated market, with the majority of activity taking place with offshore operators.

Regulators team up to address offshore gambling market

Now, regulators from across Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Austria, Germany, and the United Kingdom have vowed to strengthen their cross-border cooperation in a bid to counteract the reach of unregulated gambling.

Cross-border cooperation has been seen as a crucial yet lacking part of moving against the sector. Australia is already experiencing an influx of illegal operators that are capitalizing on the lack of verticals, such as in-play betting and online casinos.

Casino Guru's Head of Casino Research, Matej Novota, had this to add: "The strengthened coordination among European authorities signals what I can only hope to be a turning point. By sharing intelligence and pooling efforts, watchdogs are putting themselves in a strong position to pressure illegal gambling operators and turf them out in an increasingly challenging context that has made unilateral action less effective."

Regulators in Europe fear that the online gambling industry is moving too quickly, and so are offshore casinos and sports betting operators that are not beholden to national frameworks and regulatory rulesets.

Among the issues that watchdogs are facing in aggregate is the proliferation of offshore websites, which seem unperturbed by local regulatory action, as well as the use of advanced marketing strategies by unauthorized operators, such as social media, influencers, and live streams.

To give themselves a fighting chance, the regulators will focus on three main areas of operation. First, they will start exchanging information about illegal operators and also file joint complaints to social media, hoping to trigger a firmer response from these platforms and limit the reach of advertising.

The regulators are also planning to exchange best practices in detecting issues with unregulated operators and, in fact, flag them early on.

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