European regulators becoming increasingly aggressive

The respected law firm DLA Piper has flagged salient points from its February 6 online gambling regulatory workshop, which was attended by delegates from across Europe, noting that national regulators have become increasingly aggressive in pursuit of unlicensed operators accessing their national markets.

“All the countries reviewed during the event are adopting a strict approach against the offering of online games in their jurisdiction without a local license,” the law firm advised. “Criminal prosecution for illegal offering of games is imposed in Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic, Italy and Germany.

“Gambling regulators are becoming quite aggressive in going after unlicensed operators. This is for instance the case of the Czech Republic where the first administrative proceeding against an operator started in January 2017 and the regulator is mapping unlicensed operators.”

DLA Piper observes that illegal gambling operators also run the risk of excluding themselves from subsequent entitlement to apply for a local licence in Spain and Germany, and that the possibility of shared player liquidity between nations, along with the potential for harmonisation of technical standards might help to encourage the introduction of more European licensing regimes.

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