Although Europe is a unified bloc as regards to economic significance, each country enacts its own legislation. This also applies to the online gambling sector as there are no regulations that standardizes it throughout Europe. This basically means that you can cross a border and find an entire host of new laws. In this article, we will discuss the legal state of online gambling in various European countries.
United KingdomOnline gambling in the United Kingdom is legal. However, it is under regulation from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, one of the sternest gambling bodies across the world. The body is responsible for issuing operating licences to casinos and punishing all those who don't comply with its regulations. In recent times, non-compliant online casinos have paid heavy fines as the UKGC seeks to stamp its regulatory powers.
SpainGambling regulations in Spain have passed through multiple amendments in the recent past. The latest changes stated online casinos could operate in the country but subject to some conditions. Several operators received licences from the Spanish National Gaming Commission, hence could offer their services. Currently, Spanish residents can sign up, bet and play casino games at any of the licensed websites.
FranceMany kinds of online gambling are legal in France with different bodies regulating them. They include the Pari Mutuel Urbain which regulates horse racing and the Francaise des Jeux which covers lotteries. In 2009, under request from the EU, the government enacted new regulations that officially legalized sports betting and poker. Currently, ARJEL is the authority responsible for issuing online gambling licences.
ItalyCompared to other European states, the gambling regulations in Italy are quite liberal. In 2006, when many EU members were restricting gambling, Italy enacted legislation that allowed sports betting services. This legislation later went through multiple amendments, one of them adding casino games to the list. At the moment, Italians have a vast choice of licensed websites that provide different kinds of gambling.
GermanyThe legal landscape regarding online gambling in Germany is somewhat complex. In 2008, the country banned all kinds of online gambling except Horse Racing betting. Two years later, the Interstate Gambling Treaty which allowed gambling services was introduced. However, a new government later scrapped it in all regions of Germany except in Schleswig Holstein. Currently, many operators use one of the licences from the exempted region to offer their services.
SwedenFor many years, the state-owned operator, Svenska Spel only offered online gambling services in Sweden. On top of that, this included the provision of all kinds of casino games and sports betting. However, concerns regarding the monopolization of the industry introduced new regulations which opened it up to private operators. Moreover, today, players can register at licensed websites and take advantage of friendly casino bonus limits in Sweden.
SwitzerlandIn Switzerland, there are two types of gambling regulations namely, federal and cantonal Licensing of casinos is carried out by the Swiss Federal Casino Commission (ESBK). On the other hand, sports betting and lotteries services are regulated by the Swiss Betting and Lottery Board. Furthermore, in 2019, the Money Gaming Act was enacted to block IP addresses of offshore gambling websites. This was a way of forcing casino operators to pay their taxes while doing away with unlicensed platforms.
ConclusionAs you can see, most of the aforementioned European countries allow some kind of gambling. Although Germany's current regulations aren't very friendly to the industry, you can only be optimistic in the future.