Poland calls for united EU front on gambling

Poland has used the opportunity to head the Council of the European Union to spearhead several initiatives, one of which has to do with gambling, and specifically how Member States can harmonize their efforts to standardize the industry and protect consumers better.

Poland wants more done against illegal gambling in Europe

In an article posted by Bloomberg, citing a note published in December, the publication argues that Poland is looking to strengthen the way the European Union responds to threats such as illegal gambling and money laundering.

The country proposes a special working group under the aegis of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm. Poland outlines several ideas on how this can be achieved and what Member States could do to act together in concert against identifiable threats.

The large-scale use of Artificial Intelligence, for example, could be implemented in combating illegal gambling websites across the bloc, rather than the current piecemeal approach which has seen domestic markets fend for themselves against an issue of growing concern in core markets such as Sweden, Germany, Belgium and elsewhere.

Poland also estimates that there could be as much as $7bn lost in unrealized tax opportunities from gambling due to black-market operations which have continued to crimp the regulated sector and make it unnecessarily difficult for regulated companies to stay in the game.

Regulators and countries ought to collaborate more

Regulators have many tools in their arsenal to oppose the illegal gambling sector, but considerable effort has been made to restrict unlicensed operators, something that Poland believes can be centralized between members.

There have already been Memorandaof Understanding between individual Member State regulators trying to exchange knowledge and expertise, and even focus on specific brands that have been known to be offenders across the entire bloc.

However, these measures are far from fully implemented. Poland’s proposal is therefore worth pursuing to its fullest potential. Just recently, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, which are not Member States, decided to block problem gamblers on both sides of the border.

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