MEP Ignatius Corrao (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance) presented a question to Parliament regarding the fight against pathological gambling.
Below is the full text:
“The Italian investigation into illegal betting by footballers has highlighted the growing problem of gambling addiction in Italy. The EGBA report reveals that the sector in Europe generated 108,5 billion euros in revenue in 2022, and expects to generate 134 billion by 2027. Italy banned gambling advertising in 2018.
The sector would need a common framework to achieve regulatory convergence and adequate uniform consumer protection across the EU, but this is unlikely to be achieved without further measures taken at European level.
The Commission apparently decided to relegate issues related to gambling to the background despite the fact that recommendation 2014/478/EU failed to guarantee regulatory uniformity and convergence.
The greater availability and growing interest in administrative cooperation between Member States compared to 2014 could lead to greater support for direct, mandatory and harmonizing measures on gambling, thus allowing the original objectives to be achieved more effectively. provided for in the recommendation.
Can the Commission answer the following questions:
- Does it intend to address the lack of regulatory convergence and consumer protection in the gambling sector?
- How do you overall assess the implementation of the principles of Recommendation 2014/478/EU by the Member States and the results achieved by it?
- What initiatives have you planned, or do you intend to promote, regarding the regulation of gambling and cooperation between Member States?”.
