2026: the year of more coherent regulation for European gaming
•
13 Jan 2026 •
Reading time: 3 minutes As European countries tighten up their national frameworks, a common dynamic is emerging: shared technical standards, similar control tools, increasing use of artificial intelligence and closer cooperation between regulators.
Across-the-board standards
To understand the direction in which this is heading, we first need to recognise that gambling policy in Europe is no longer conducted solely within an isolated sectoral framework. European operators must now comply with a range of horizontal regulations that are not specific to gaming, but which have a profound influence on the way they operate:
- The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which governs the use of players’ data.
- Anti-money laundering rules, which have now been tightened in several jurisdictions.
- The Digital Services Act, which imposes new responsibilities on online platforms.
- The future regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI Act), which will deal in particular with automated risk assessment systems and personalised recommendations.
These standards are already shaping a common framework, standardising key elements of compliance without being laws dedicated to the gaming sector.
‘European experience in regulated sectors shows that regulatory harmonisation rarely results in top-down policy measures. Legal harmonisation is necessary, but insufficient.’
Voluntary standards become essential
Standard EN 17531, for example, has been approved to enable common reporting in the supervision of online gaming. Although this standard is not mandatory at the outset, it could become an essential reference if the regulatory authorities incorporate it into their processes.
Bjorn Fuchs:
‘When there are sufficient common standards for elements relating to damage detection, AI systems could most certainly become a basis for future law enforcement and licensing.’
Tax, control, but for what result?
In 2026, the debates will continue to revolve around taxes and the fight against the black market, but several players are insisting on a new fact: player protection and operators’ duty of vigilance have become inseparable from these subjects.
The idea is simple: if legal products become too restrictive or less attractive, players could turn to unregulated offers, thereby exacerbating the problem that politicians are seeking to solve. This trend can already be seen in mature markets such as the UK and Denmark, where strict measures can put authorised players at a disadvantage compared with the illegal market.
Another major issue is the visibility of legal offers on the Internet. In many European countries, players still find it difficult to clearly distinguish between an authorised site and an unregulated platform, particularly when the latter uses hybrid formats to circumvent traditional definitions of gambling.
Bjorn Fuchs:
‘Over-regulation and excessive taxation will cripple legal operators, reducing net consumer protection.’
Several threads are now coming together to show that Europe is moving towards technical, operational and cultural harmonisation of regulation. Common standards, shared data, AI and closer cooperation between supervisors are the new levers for a more coherent market.