European citizens seek fair practice, regulation for online gambling

13 October, 2009

Seems as though Americans aren’t the only ones concerned about individual rights vis-à-vis online gambling: Citizens in some European Union nations are taking matters into their own hands as far as getting heard on unfair (and monopolistic, in most cases) practices going on in their countries.

Typically, EU countries do allow online gambling, but only as approved of by that state’s national government, leading to a situation in which only government-run or government-subcontracted internet gaming is possible; this is the case in Holland and Portugal. Germany and France have similar measures in place, but are currently considering reform to their own strict regulations.

On its part, an organization known as “Right 2 Bet” has put together a petition or two that calls for European lawmakers “to ensure that the principles of economic freedom in the European Union are applied as fairly to betting and gaming as they are to any other sector.”

Aside from mere consumers’ rights, the petition also calls for the EU to provide healthy competition from member states’ websites and for some regulation on “responsible gambling.”

What good will a petition do? Excellent question, and one answered by the Lisbon Treaty’s neat “Citizens Initiative section,” which requires the European Parliament to act on any such formal appeal that bears one million signatures of European citizens.

To see the petition or to sign, see the organization’s official website at Right2Bet.net.

http://www.right2bet.net/petition/

If only such an option existed in the United States, eh?