On January 1, Poland took the presidency of the Council of the European Union, and already in the first weeks it outlined one of the priorities - the fight against illegal online casinos. According to local experts, within the EU alone, the black gambling market costs member states more than 7.2 billion euros in lost taxes annually.
A problem that concerns everyone
The Polish authorities believe that illegal gambling is not only a national threat, but also a common pain for the entire European Union. Therefore, official Warsaw proposes to form a working group under the European Commission, which will develop common rules and methods for combating the shadow gambling business.
The European Betting and Gaming Association (EGBA), a large lobbying organization representing the interests of legal operators, has already expressed support for the initiative.
National laws are a barrier to unity
The main problem is that the regulation of gambling traditionally belongs to the sphere of national legislation, and not to the pan-European one. Therefore, it will be difficult to adopt a common law at the EU-wide level.
In Poland, for example, there are quite strict measures:
- online gambling is allowed only through the state operator Totalizator Sportowy;
- since 2017, there has been a turnover tax of 12% on rates;
- there are fines for advertising illegal sites and blocking by IP.
But even with this model, the authorities admit that the market is vulnerable.
AI vs Black Market
One of the proposed tools to combat it is the introduction of artificial intelligence, which will help identify illegal sites, track activity, analyze suspicious transactions and fight against the circumvention of blocking. So far, this is more of a vector of development, but Poland plans to actively promote the topic at the EU level.
Internal conflicts
Interestingly, Poland itself is far from unanimous. The country's largest bookmaker, STS Group, has openly criticized Totalizator Sportowy's monopoly on online casinos, saying that this is a violation of competition and possibly an illegal practice.
Europe against illegal immigrants
Despite the fact that a number of EU countries have already introduced their own tough regulatory mechanisms – Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden – experts agree that the black market has not disappeared. Legal players lose their share, budgets receive less taxes, and players receive protection.
Poland proposes not to postpone the decision until the next crisis. Perhaps right now the European Union has a chance to build a common regulatory platform where illegal immigrants simply cannot survive.