45 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 “Time to act: Europe’s political response to fighting the manipulation of sports competitions” was the title of the Report of MP Roland Rino Büchel, Switzerland, on 15 June 2020 for the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The purpose of this report was to warn the EU and various states that we could no longer wait to sign and ratify the Macolin convention in order to effectively fight match fixing. We had the opportunity to meet rapporteur Büchel and his team to contribute to the drafting of his report. Today, more than 10 years after the Macolin convention was officially introduced, there is still a lot of work to do to convince states around the world to sign and ratify this essential instrument. Only then can it deliver what it was designed for: enabling international legal cooperation and equipping agents of law and policy enforcement with the training they need to properly investigate such crimes. Organizations such as ULIS, along with global partners like Panathlon International, are doing admirable work to advance this effort. For lotteries, the issue is especially important — though it is far from the only challenge we face. Let me go back in time to 1997 when I had the opportunity to speak at the INTERTOTO (predecessor of the WLA) in Berlin about the fact that it was almost too late for Lotteries to act against the risks of deregulation in what was at that time still mainly the land-based lotteries, betting and gambling sector. We successfully defended before the Court of Justice of the European Union the Member states’ discretionary competence to regulate gambling in accordance with their own socio-economic, cultural and ethical considerations. Indeed, in 1993 (Schindler case) and 1999 (Läärä case), the foundations were built to recognize the societal role of Lotteries, their important contribution to good causes, and their necessary monopolistic structure. Since those years, the Court of Justice of the European Union has provided judgments in more than 80 cases. A few rulings (Gambelli, Carmen Media & Markus Stoss) created some uncertainties and introduced new risks, but in the meantime, those have been addressed and/or corrected. Belgium and Portugal, strongly backed respectively by the Loterie Nationale and SCML, were the main defenders of the states in all cases at the European Court. It has always been a pleasure for us as a team to act with Belgium to cooperate on these cases with our Portuguese colleagues Patricia De Sousa Ines and Ana Silva Coelho, both excellent lawyers of SCML. The consistent approach of these cases has enabled the Lotteries to get assurance and support from the Court of Justice of the EU. This culminated in the recognition of the role of Lotteries during the 2024 Lottery conference in Brussels, organized under the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council by Loterie Nationale. At this conference, the President of the European Court, Prof. dr. Koen Lenaerts, said: “Lotteries do not only belong to our cultural heritage, but are part of the “social fabric of society”. Former EU Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, endorsed this important message in his keynote address at the European Lotteries Bern congress in 2025. Now we are again facing, and this time even at a global scale, an existential threat for Lotteries. It is no longer a time to continue discussing but an urgent time to act. The illegal online market is growing exponentially and undermining societies and the rule of law. The figures are scary: More than 1,7 trillion US$ are spent on illegal betting per year according to UNODC. The American Gaming Association (AGA) reported a 22% increase in illegal gambling in the United States since 2022. The report also provided a breakdown of estimated total revenue over that same period, with illegal operators accounting for $53.9 billion out of the total of $169 billion. In Europe, illegal online gambling is considered to represent between 50% and 70% of some markets. In Chile more than 3,000 illegal operators are causing an enormous harm. In South Africa online gambling amounts to 1,6 trillion Rand while a large part of the population is relying upon government grants to survive. This situation is fueling one of countries fastest growing addictions. The official response from governments and agents of regulatory and law enforcement have not been satisfactory. The advocacy of global commercial online operators that an open licensing system would resolve the problem has TIME TO ACT…. The duty to defend the lottery model all over the world Philippe Vlaemminck, Valentin Ramognino and Beata Guzik By Philippe Vlaemminck & Beata Guzik1 1Philippe Vlaemminck is a lawyer and the managing director of Vlaemminck.law. Beata Guzik is a lawyer and Director EU public Affairs of Vlaemminck.law
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