RGA challenging new Belgian legislation

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA), which represents some of Europe’s largest remote gambling firms, has partnered with the European Gaming And Betting Association (EGBA) to lodge a joint complaint against new gambling legislation in Belgium.

Filed last week with the European Commission, the complaint alleges that the recently adopted legislation is not compliant with European Union law because it contains a number of elements designed to protect domestic operators.

The RGA stated that the Belgian regulations put in place ‘unacceptable barriers to new entrants seeking to offer online gambling’ as they require applicants for an Internet licence to obtain an offline version first and actively participate in the land-based market. It announced that this stipulation was a ‘clear barrier to entry’ into the Belgian market ‘considering that the majority of the European remote gambling operators do not conduct land-based businesses’.

The new laws also require that online operators duplicate their infrastructure by locating servers, technical equipment and relevant personnel at a permanent establishment in the nation. In doing so, the RGA stated that Belgium ‘completely ignores the obligations and safeguards to which foreign operators are already subject in their member state of establishment’.

“In other words, the Belgian authorities assert their capacity to judge the integrity of private operators while they deny the ability of other countries to do so,” read a statement from the RGA.

“If consumer protection was the real concern, licences would be granted on the basis of objective criteria assessing the social responsibility of operators,” said Clive Hawkswood, Chief Executive Officer for the RGA.

“Unfortunately, the current system only aims at protecting a handful of existing land-based operators from meaningful competition. Far from benefitting consumers, this will only serve to reduce the value and choice available to them.

“There is absolutely no doubt that these measures are driven by protectionism rather than genuine concern for consumers. We hope that the Commission will be consistent with its previous stance on the Belgian laws and will fulfil its duty as guardian of European Union law by taking early action to remedy this abuse.”