Citizens Policy for Online Casinos
Something is telling me that the European Parliament was likely not anticipating that one of the first “Citizens Initiative” campaigns would center on the online casino gambling debate and would occur so soon after the Lisbon Treaty was passed throughout the Europe Union. There are only a handful of countries that have still not passed the Lisbon Treaty, and even those are quickly persuaded to join, Ireland is a good example of the Lisbon Treaty’s gradual acceptance in Europe. One provision within the treaty is just precisely what supporters of an open and free online casino gambling industry could hope for. The Lisbon Treaty contains a provision that allows that if an initiative can gain 1 million signatures than the European Parliament will have to address that issue on the agenda.
The Lisbon Treaty is still quite new and the Right2bet campaign latched onto the Citizens Initiative provision and have launched a campaign to gain the 1 million signatures and then force the European Parliament to address the issues with the current European online casino gambling industry. Although some EU member states have liberalized their gambling policies in the past several years, there are still several member-states that have restrictions and monopolies in place as a way to block activities from foreign online casinos. The Right2Bet campaign is asking that that EU fully address the discrepancy in policies and liberalize the whole of the EU market.
The matter at hand lies in the fact that action from the European Court of Justice is slow moving and the online casino gambling industry is looking for one cohesive and pointed effort from the European Union to address the blatant issues that are present in the European marketplace as sever EU countries refuse to open up their doors to more inclusive and liberal gaming policies.