FA L L I N G INTO LINE
The coming months and years will see almost half of European Union member states adopt a dot.country online gambling regulatory model. eGaming Review takes a closer look at the seven countries closest to regulating, and the opportunities and barriers that lie ahead
B
etween them Belgium, Bulgaria and Greece may only account for 4% of the EU’s total gambling spend compared to the 75% in the hands of Europe’s ‘Big 5' member states (Italy, the UK, Germany, France and Spain) but crucially four out of the big ?ve have already regulated – with the exception of Germany, which maintains its controversial State Treaty – while the other three are at varying stages of doing the same. But they are not alone. An increasing number of European nations are emulating their larger neighbours and cottoning onto the fact there is signi?cant revenue to be made from taxing and running a regulated online gambling market. The third wave of dot.country is well under way. The good news is that offshore, unregulated sites and affiliates are being clamped down on, blocked and blacklisted;
the bad news, however, is that the market is becoming increasingly fragmented and Europe is dividing itself into a patchwork of varying forms of taxation, regulation and piling additional costs, in varying forms, on private operators, in turn making it harder to compete and sustain business in these territories. Each of the countries we cover in this feature are either using or intend to use a different model in order to tax and regulate operators, suppliers and/or players on winnings. Each one differs in terms of products allowed and those currently off limits, while in some operators are required to partner with local land-based entities, in others the situation remains more uncertain and the small print is blurred. What is clear however, is that opportunities lie ahead for the right companies, those that can adapt to rapid change and, arguably, those that have experience in operating in evolving markets.
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