46 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 proven not to work. The European Court repeated this conclusion several times: competition is not good in the gambling sector. It does not lead to better products or service for the consumers, nor to better channeling, nor to more tax income. In The Netherlands, after opening the online market, the illegal market has come to comprise more than 50% while addiction levels continue to increase. The same is happening in many countries all over the world. In Europe, consumers no longer accept this and are going to court to claim back the money they lost to illegal gambling operators. Up to now, judgments have been delivered for more than 200 million EURO in countries such as Austria and Germany. These illegal operators, assisted by the Government of Malta, fight these cases all the way up to the European Court. Malta even enacted a law, the so-called “bill 55”, to prohibit the enforcement of foreign judgments against online gambling operators in Malta, which explicitly violates European law. As a result, the European Commission started an infringement case against Malta. The remedies to this situation are complex but certainly achievable. A recent report by Reuters and the Open Rights Group, publicly available, states that social media behemoth META is making 10% of its earnings out of illegal content. In France, two big casino groups, Barrière and JOA, went to court against META, as the illegal online casinos are violating and abusing their trademarked brands while operating through the META platforms, and all this while the legitimate casinos (Barrière and JOA) are themselves not permitted to operate online! In Belgium, the Loterie Nationale went to court to attack illegal lottery operators misleading consumers. The European Commission new Digital Services Act (DSA) attempts to act against Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Online Search Engines (VLOS) who do not take sufficient measures to provide consumers tools to notify illegal content and to request these illegal devices be taken offline. Serious fines can be imposed for violations of the DSA. The European Court is currently addressing the question as to what extent Google is responsible for paid business contracts whereby films are produced on You Tube which contain promotions for illegal slot machines. The Italian media regulator, AGCOM, fined Google (who is challenging this in Court). The GAFA companies are world players and need to take up their share of responsibilities to combat illegality as everybody needs to. They use AI, earn money through a large amount of business contracts and sell the metadata, and so should not be able to then claim that they are unaware of the growing illegal content. Engaging the cooperation of large online platforms is certainly a crucial element in the fight against illegals. Geo-blocking tools and payment blocking devices can also help, but need to be endorsed by legislation obliging ISPs and financial institutions to cooperate. The same is necessary for advertising and media agencies and online platforms. Geoblocking will not eliminate the problems on its own, but at least it will reduce the impact. Such “criminal complicity” clauses do exist in a number of countries already and are large enough to cover data & odds-monitoring and software suppliers, as well as online platforms. Perhaps Lotteries could refuse to work with data & odds-monitoring suppliers who continue to support and enable illegal operators with their services. Key to everything, though, is for the authorities to take illegal gambling seriously. As long as governments do not put this as a priority in their national security plans, enforcement will most likely not take place, at least not effective criminal enforcement, nor international cooperation. Monitoring the dark net, the famous “TOR” to identify criminal gambling activities, and applying strict taxation rules against BEPS etc., and applying whatever tools are at our disposal, also play a key role in the process of enforcing the laws against illegals. And where are Lotteries? In a previous article (The Need for a “Safe Harbor” protecting public lotteries in the face of regulatory disruption and aggressive online gambling operators) we already lifted the veil: In order to protect the future of Lotteries and their broad societal role, we must create a constitutional “safe harbor”… (Public Gaming Magazine September/ October 2025 – page 57). But we do not only need to create a “safe harbor” for Lotteries, we also need to understand that the “safe Harbor” is also there to protect the citizens of our society. As said by MP Sammy Awuku, the former DG of the Ghana NLA ( Public Gaming Magazine May/June 2025, page 20): against the overly aggressive player acquisition, addictive bonusing and manipulative engagement tactics to increase revenues, lotteries will be at a competitive disadvantage”. It is our role to re-establish the necessarily vital position of Lotteries in our societies and for governments to legally protect their Lotteries. We need to convince legislators and governments to provide adequate regulatory answers to permit public lotteries to grow, advertise, and channelize the most responsible way for players to manage their low risk, modern and attractive lottery games. This is what the European Court said in multiple rulings, namely that governments are permitted to set up “a controlled expansion policy” to protect consumers from illegal gambling by providing them with an attractive option in the form of Lottery Gaming. For that purpose, Lotteries are permitted to advertise both the jackpot and the allocation of profits to good causes. By doing so we also give consumers a “safe harbor” — a place where they can enjoy games, dream of winnings, and also know that they never really lose: even when they do not win, their society and good causes benefit instead of the private shareholders of commercial gambling operators. Lottery needs to be promoted as the responsible, widely available and safe alternative to aggressive online gambling. Lotteries have for that purpose developed the highest standards and certifications for responsible gaming. Some Lotteries do even have an online gambling monopoly. Where the monopolies do exist, we need to defend them, where they do not exist we need to explain to governments that a very strictly regulated and controlled online gambling environment, with proper taxation, explicit constraints, preferably connected to a land-based activity, and with clearly defined penalties for violations … these are an essential baseline to minimize the damage caused to public lotteries as responsible operators and important contributors to our societal welfare. An open online gambling market is never an answer. On the contrary, it violates the principles established by the Court of Justice of the EU as it denies adequate protection for consumers and it does not support public order. It lies with the community of lotteries to advocate for the protection of their stakeholders and beneficiaries! A strong mix of legislative and regulatory integrity combined with effective enforcement and responsible operational measures can create the hope for a better world with less illegal gambling and … less harm to our societies all over the world. It is time to act … to protect Lotteries, to protect consumers, and to protect society and their beneficiaries… It is time to act to set up the “safe harbor” approach all over the world. n
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