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Recentpoker.com reports that the Belgian Parliament has passed a new law on gaming and betting law. The Belgian draft law had been reviewed by the European Commission which had issued a detailed opinion on the bill. The points of the draft law that raised major concerns related to:
- the requirement for online operators to be established in Belgium;
- the unjustified limitation of the number of available licenses;
- the requirement to have a server located in Belgium;
- criminal sanctions on consumers wishing to play with EU licensed operators.
Despite of the objections from the European Commission, the Belgian government believed that no amendment of the draft law was necessary and now the Belgian Parliament has given its approval to the law.
As a general comment, the arguments raised against the Belgian draft law sound very familiar to an Italian lawyer. Indeed, the same restrictions now implemented by the Belgian new law have been in place in Italy for several years and only following the coming into force last summer of the so called “Community Law” life for gaming operators is getting better and better in Italy. The Community Law prescribed in fact that gaming operators do not need to be established in Italy and that no relevant restrictions apply to the number of online gaming licenses. This means that any operator fulfilling the conditions set out in the law can obtain an online gaming license.
Indeed, the Italian government expects that a more “friendly” approach towards gaming operators is likely to attract new operators to the Italian market so enhancing competition to the benefit of Italian players.
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