While the European online gambling market is experiencing sustained growth, regulatory fragmentation between Member States is a growing concern for industry players. Maarten Haijer has made a clear appeal: it is time for Europe to harmonise its rules to better protect players and limit the expansion of the black market.
A bitter observation: granular fragmentation
When Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), sat down recently with SBC News in Lisbon, he made no secret of his concern: Europe’s gambling markets are still too disparate. For him, the stakes are clear: without a common vision, some States will continue to lag behind.
He cites Denmark as an obvious example of clear regulatory leadership. He also mentions Belgium, which has launched a six-year regulatory strategy involving several ministries to develop a more stable gambling sector.
But in the face of these positive examples, one state seems to stand out – and not for the right reasons.
The Dutch case came up several times during the interview. Over the past year, the market there has been subject to heavy tax constraints and strict requirements, causing tensions with operators. The departure of Teun Struycken, a key figure in gaming policy, has left reforms in abeyance, disrupting the entire sector. For Haijer, the risk is clear: if the user experience becomes painful due to excessive constraints, players will migrate to illegal platforms.
‘By introducing deposit limits, which may seem like a good idea or logical to outsiders, the real effect is that people who play more – who you probably want to protect more than those who play little or no – turn to the black market,’ said Haijer. “If we put too many barriers in front of gamblers, it won’t work. When the player experience is very bad, customers will go elsewhere, where they can play freely.”
Harmonisation within reach… or a mirage?
Faced with this fragmentation, Haijer is proposing what might appear to be an ideal solution – albeit with vague outlines: harmonised European gambling legislation. This legislation would aim to establish a common framework, in particular to prevent the black market and strengthen player protection.
However, he warns that gambling remains fundamentally a national competence, closely linked to the tax systems and budgetary priorities of each country. This national weight is holding back the emergence of a consensus in the European Parliament and the EU Council.
However, Haijer sees an encouraging sign: national laws are increasingly converging, despite their differences. In this context, standardisation in specific areas (advertising, taxes, risk markers) would make sense. But implementation will remain uncertain as long as advertising regulations vary widely from one country to another, ranging from total bans to partial restrictions.
The risk marker milestone: a concrete step forward
Despite the obstacles, a current project could represent the first form of harmonisation: the European standardisation of gambling risk markers. This is a mechanism enabling operators and authorities to identify risky behaviour according to common criteria (duration, rhythm, frequency, etc.).
On 25 September, the majority of national standardisation bodies voted in favour of this initiative, which is supported by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). Although still voluntary, the standard should be finalised by early 2026.
Safer Gambling Week and ongoing commitment
Even in the absence of a fully harmonised legal framework, the EGBA is not giving up. The association continues to promote transnational initiatives, in particular the European Safer Gambling Week, an annual programme bringing together regulators, operators, academics and people concerned by gambling-related problems.
Beyond standards, the EGBA aims to instil a culture of responsibility: cooperation, listening to players, preventing and dealing with problematic behaviour. The vote on risk markers is part of this strategy of small, pragmatic steps, which may one day lead to broader harmonisation.
The story told by Maarten Haijer exposes a central tension: on the one hand, the imperative to protect players and combat the black market; on the other, the weight of national sovereignty and tax differences. Total harmonisation of gambling in Europe remains a distant prospect, but initiatives such as risk standardisation show that convergence is possible, at least in targeted segments.
“We are hoping for a more structural approach to some of these issues, and we hope that this will be the first of many. It will generate more attention, more debate and more willingness to work closely together,” concluded Mr Haijer.