European Union Votes: 2

The writer of the recent proposal that was brought to the European Union, Christel Schaldemose says that his primary concern is to protect those that are innocent or naïve when it comes to the world of online casinos. In his opinion there has been an explosion of online casinos and Internet-based gambling businesses. And in his opinion his proposal is not intended to try to restrict the private sector of business but instead it is supposed for tact people who are not as savvy as the heads of the online casino industry. Everybody seems to have their opinion on this issue, Arlene McCarthy is no exception. She is the British Socialist deputy and also is the chair person for parliaments consumer protection and internal market committee.

The online gambling industry and the land-based gambling industry are not on the same page legally speaking. For example, the state lottery associations were more than happy with the outcome of the recent vote from the European Union. On the other hand, private gambling operators in the online casino industry insiders have a different opinion. Those people believe that the report does not include Internet gambling is best interest in the global standpoint. And it is quite obvious that the online casino industry and any Internet gambling business is a global commodity. The intent of this report was to keep the integrity of online gambling, whether or not that was achieved is the question.

Arlene McCarthy gave her opinion on the current decision made by the European Union on online casinos. She said, "E.U. member states have the right to set their own laws on gambling. No member state has the right to set hypocritical laws that discriminate in favour of domestic and government-owned operators. But we cannot ignore genuine concerns to ensure the integrity of gambling services." The online casino industry has tried very hard to protect itself, one person that is also fighting for the industry is Sigrid Ligne, the European Gaming and Betting Association’s secretary general. He said, "The vote shows that we cannot expect E.U. harmonized legislation to be adopted in the near future. This means that case law of the court of justice will prevail for our sector in the years to come."