EU gaming regulators to work more closely

European online gambling regulators said they planned working more closely together to enhance regulatory compliance across the continent following an informal meeting.

Plans to advance shared liquidity between jurisdictions was high on the agenda, and due to be discussed further at a later date, as six regulatory associations met in Lisbon this month. The French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish associations established an informal association last December, holding its inaugural meeting in Paris that same month, discussing pooled liquidity among other issues.

“Major poker operators are still gaining a profit from the sector, but there is no doubt that the sharing of liquidity across the different platforms would considerably boost the growth of the European online poker market”, lawyer and eGR columnist Giulio Coraggio said in his blog Gaming Tech Law.

Representatives from Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and the UK were in attendance to share information and best practices with a view to enhancing consumer protection and safeguarding player’s funds. It was the first time the UK Gambling Commission had joined the meeting.

The discussion follows the European Parliament’s Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection voting in favour of stronger consumer protection within the egaming industry. Group spokeswoman Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP said at the time that restrictions were “needed for consumer protection, fraud prevention, the fight against money laundering and the preservation of public order and public health.”

Regulators at the Lisbon meeting also expressed the need for practical tools, such as intellectual property and financial transactions blocking, to combat illegal gambling and announced their backing of the European Communication “Towards a comprehensive European framework for online gambling”, issued late last year.

A further meeting is set to take place in Rome during the second half of 2013.