Regulators no closer to liquidity solution after Rome meeting
Six leading national gambling regulators converge on Italy as Spanish authority sets liquidity sharing deadline
Representatives of six European national gambling regulators met in Rome last week to discuss a range of matters affecting the online gambling industry with delegates still hopeful of finding a liquidity pooling solution.
Members from the regulatory bodies of France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the UK were invited to a meeting in Rome hosted by Italian regulator AAMS designed to improve information sharing and other good practices.
The meetings took place on 16 and 17 January and were the fourth informal gathering between the collection of regulatory bodies. A fifth meeting to be held in Germany has been scheduled for this autumn.
According to a joint-statement released by the regulators, topics on the agenda included the fight against unlicensed gambling, regulatory evolution of domestic markets, control systems, the role of game suppliers, technical standards, skill games and the legal issues linked to the exchange of personal data.
One specific issue believed to have been discussed will have been international poker liquidity sharing.
While travelling to Rome, Juan Espinosa, deputy director general at Spanish regulator DGOJ told eGaming Review cross-border liquidity pooling would have to commence this year, after the idea rejected was recently by French politicians.
“If we are going to do something about it we wouldn’t like to see it performed beyond 2014 because we either find a solution to this big issue to the market or we find good reasons not to do it,” Espinosa said.
“Hopefully “ and this is me speaking humbly “ it doesn’t take us to long to find a solution,” he added.
As part of the trip, the delegation visited the offices of Italian national IT company, Sogei, which developed and manages the central control system for all the Italian gambling activities.