Although it's a very rocky road, it seems that most of Europe's major Member States are moving toward online gambling regulation. But is this a good thing for operators?
Granted, in many cases the move to open and regulated online gambling markets is a reluctant one that has been prompted by the European Commission, but the likes of Italy, France and Spain will soon issue licenses to foreign operators who will then be able to accept bets from residents and advertise terrestrially.
The industries biggest operators have hailed regulation as an opportunity for growth. But it will come at an enormous cost. And this cost has been (albeit it loosely) quantified at somewhere in the area of 1 billion Euros.
You see France, Italy et al aren't simply going to open their markets to operators licensed and regulated elsewhere (in Gibraltar, Malta, Alderney etc) without wanting to do a little bit of regulating (and certainly taxing) of their own. Additional administrative, infrastructure and of course tax revenues are going to be significant.
Nobody is going to deny that regulation isn't good for the players. But for operators, it may be a different story. Those with the largest share of the EU Igaming pie, and therefore likely to feel the impact of the changes the most are Bwin (8%), PartyGaming (6%) and William Hill (4.5%). They are going to need to gain a whole lot of new customers post-regulation in order to cover the costs they will face in complying with the new regime.
Some commentators believe that they may fall short, or as one puts it, 'are we really getting more betters, or are we going to get the same clients as before, but now we have to pay taxes on them?'
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