Online gaming regulators from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain met in Barcelona

All four participating regulators act according to a legal framework that considers: gambling is not a normal activity but an activity where each national state must guarantee public order in its territory, protecting consumers against fraud and criminal activities, preventing addiction, especially amongst vulnerable groups, assuring the integrity of the game and fighting illegal gambling. These objectives can only be effectively pursued by each individual state regarding each specific ethical, cultural and social reality, trough strong regulatory instruments, exercised by public authorities, not relying on market forces only.

These common political vision and objectives make possible an operational cooperation aimed at laying the foundations for a better protection of the ends provided for by the legislation and for exchanges on the licensing criteria in each jurisdiction.

The meeting allowed to establish a regulatory strategy and to lay the foundation for information exchange with regards to the operators licensed in more than one jurisdiction, the fight against illegal operators and a better knowledge about the respective licensed games legal framework and market data, with respect to the protection of personal data. In addition, discussions took place on the conditions necessary for a possible shared liquidity in certain games among some of the countries participating to the meeting.

Despite the different levels of the regulatory and market development observed in each of the four countries, the meeting served to a better understanding of the authorities and their respective teams, to strengthen cooperation and to advance in the process. The four regulators agree on the importance, in the future, of extending the cooperation to other European countries that share similar regulatory principles and strategies.

The next meeting is to be held in Paris in December 2012.