Belgium’s Clarification of EU Poker Laws
To gain some precise clarification and avoid some confusion some guidelines have been set in place. As the EU council presidency makes its customary rotation it could prompt the unification of online poker laws across Europe. Starting in July 2010, Belgium will take the EU hot seat and is keen to use its position of power to clarify the rules regarding poker on the internet. Belgium Italy and France are currently in favor of regulated online casinos that offer various online games, including online poker, to their nationals. These moves, however, have also blocked outside operators from legally offering games to willing punters.
In Belgium alone, 35,000 people play online poker each week. This is a huge number of people logging on to the internet in an effort to wager. This number includes 330,000 people that play at least once every six months. This uptake in online poker across Belgium has been significant over the past three years and with annual revenue expected to total €110 million the country is keen to tap into that money as soon as possible. with the growing advancement of technology this will always be a sticky subject for the government. The role of online poker within their respective countries; some taking a completely negative stance and banning it completely. If America re-opening its doors to online gambling and attitudes towards online poker are becoming more positive it won’t be long before online poker is booming once again across Europe.
Part of the problem with the changing laws of the EU is that there is no uniformity. Countries have consistently built their own rules over the past few years. With no real law, they were left to their own devices. Countries were hard-pressed to continue gambling and refused to hand aside the millions of dollars at stake. They began working through their own rules and regulations. The problem then, was that the EU then stepped in to try to unify rules. It is going to be a difficult task since they are working with a wide variety of gaming rules. Some countries are trying to create monopolies and protect their own stake in the market. Only time will tell what the EU is going to do to overcome the disparity in rules and regulations.
