MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...
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FUTURE & CHALLENGES<br />
Fromitsside,theEuropeanCommission<br />
is opposing against Member State<br />
requirement to have technology<br />
systems location (server, frontal server,<br />
portal with ISP blocking…).<br />
The Commission has however no<br />
arguments to oppose against the<br />
positionoftheMemberStates.Moreover,<br />
in the secondary legislation, as in the<br />
AML directive, onsite inspections are<br />
foreseen as necessary requirement for<br />
the prevention and enforcement of<br />
Money Laundering (even though, for<br />
now, still only applicable to the casino<br />
game sector).<br />
Therefore, there is an urgent need for a<br />
very substantial debate among different<br />
stakeholders to find out which could be<br />
a proper environment to enable proper<br />
IT standards supporting the Member<br />
States policies.<br />
The gaming industries should focus<br />
on player protection and contribution<br />
to the society and therefore can only<br />
welcome that investigation on gambling<br />
technology will take place.<br />
In fact, only the cooperation among the<br />
stakeholders could lead to the definition<br />
of effective technical requirements and<br />
solutions.<br />
The current EU Regulatory and<br />
Legislative framework, as clarified by<br />
the Court of Justice of the EU and by<br />
a number of secondary EU legislative<br />
instruments, must form the backdrop<br />
to the discussion on the design of the<br />
gambling technology.<br />
What does it mean in practice for<br />
operators and different stakeholders?<br />
There is a need to discuss on how to<br />
get control over the expanding online<br />
market by adapting to the changing<br />
environment throughout a strongly<br />
regulated controlled expansion policy,<br />
by exploring new form of games and<br />
new form of distribution tools as long as<br />
the illegal market continues to flourish.<br />
The debate on gambling technology<br />
will have mainly to focus on defending,<br />
also legally, the market by mean of<br />
enforcement through ISPs, payment<br />
blocking, geo-location technology;<br />
researching & comparing what other<br />
industries set up (i.e. the music industry<br />
against illegal downloading) or the<br />
social media which have succeeded<br />
in offering and disseminating<br />
(notwithstanding the serious privacy<br />
implications) the use of Geolocation as<br />
commercial tool.<br />
A first step could be the exchange<br />
of views and information among<br />
stakeholders from the different<br />
Member States on the different IT tools,<br />
especially on key issues such as: server<br />
and cloud based technology, liquidity<br />
& open end white labels, consumer<br />
E-identification(government practices),<br />
consumer behavior tracking, controls<br />
and responsible gaming, online<br />
payment services, Money Laundering<br />
and “know your customer” tools,<br />
Mobile phones technology, ….<br />
Still many questions remain open as we<br />
move forward:<br />
How to define the standards for<br />
transnational (or if necessary also<br />
international) issues? How can the<br />
technical knowledge and expertise<br />
easily be acquired? How practical and<br />
effective are IP and Payment blocking<br />
systems? What data protection features<br />
to be put in place? How should facilities<br />
such as random number generator<br />
and other “gaming machine” features<br />
LEGAL<br />
19 NEWS 37 <strong>SEPTEMBER</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
be best regulated? Where do servers<br />
or other IT hardware be located to<br />
guarantee the regulatory control? What<br />
e-ID systems can be promoted?<br />
The list is long and will require different<br />
experts to talk to each other. The EU<br />
Commission does not know the answer,<br />
but is certainly willing to learn from<br />
the sector what tools are available and<br />
can help to find answers to get control<br />
over the online market. By organizing<br />
an innovation meeting involving legal,<br />
IT, security and marketing experts and<br />
suppliers, EL has taken the first step in<br />
this direction.<br />
Philippe Vlaemminck<br />
EL Legal Adviser