ECA Contribution to the Call for Evidence on the Evaluation of the Geo-Blocking Regulation
Our call:
The European Casino Association (ECA) calls on the European Commission to keep the gaming sector excluded from the scope of the Geo-blocking Regulation and potential upcoming reviews of the legislation.
Rationale:
The European Casino Association (ECA) welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the European Commission’s evaluation of Regulation (EU) 2018/302 on Geo-Blocking. While the legislation aims to prevent unjustified discrimination based on customers' nationality, place of residence, or place of establishment within the EU internal market, Article 1(3) specifically outlines the services excluded from the scope of this Regulation, including gaming activities (lotteries, casinos and betting transactions).
This exclusion allows the application of different access conditions based on a customer's nationality, residence, or establishment within the EU without violating the Regulation and is key to our sector for which national licensing models remain a fundamental business practice. Under this model, a license issued in one Member State does not grant a gaming operator the right to provide services in another country. Each Member State retains full sovereignty over its gaming policies, aligning them with public interest objectives.
Illegal gambling operators, meaning those businesses operating without the required national licenses, often target countries where they lack legal authorisation, thus posing a significant threat to consumers, as they bypass crucial regulations designed to protect players and national EU economies.
Therefore, the exclusion of our sector from the scope of the Regulation allows for the use of geo-blocking as an essential tool for Member States to combat illegal gambling in order to protect the EU's public security, its economy and consumers, especially the most vulnerable ones.
This approach perfectly aligns with the subsidiarity principle that currently applies to the gaming sector in the EU, a principle acknowledged by the 1992 Decision of the European Council and reaffirmed in the Schindler case (C-275/92) by the European Court of Justice and subsequent case law. These precedents affirm that national authorities and legislators are best positioned to determine appropriate levels of consumer protection in gaming and implement specific protective measures and restrictions. This approach ensures that gaming regulations and enforcing actions, including geo-blocking, are tailored to each Member State’s unique context, maximising effectiveness and responsiveness to local needs.
The ECA remains committed to working alongside the European Institutions and relevant stakeholders in the sector to ensure that the EU regulatory framework continues to uphold the best interests of European consumers, economy, security, and society as a whole.