Malta Criticisms Regarding Online Gambling Vote

March 31, 2009

Recently the MEPs in Malta decided that they were in support of online gambling rules and regulations left up to the individual member countries. They said that regulating online gambling should be a personal preference, and that they should not have to abide by the rules that have been set up by the European Union in regards to the free movement of goods and services between the member nations.

The vote was non-binding, and an alternative report that was created by British MEP Malcolm Harbour was defeated. However, the Malta Remote Gaming Council was not pleased with their treatment of the report and there has been some significant backlash because of it. The report was more along the lines of how Malta�s government felt about online gambling, where they said that they were in agreement with the idea that it should fall under European Union regulations.

They say that they like the openness of the EU�s online gambling rules and regulations, and that they find that member countries that want the ability to regulate their own online gambling usually try �to stifle competition through their laws.� The council is very disappointed with their statements regarding the fact that they want to regulate online gambling themselves.

The council says that not only did they not sign a document that they feel is imperative to their island�s online gambling industry, but two of them did not even show up for the crucial vote on it. Simon Busuttil was the only one that they aren�t mad at, because he was the only one who showed his support for the online gambling bill.

 

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