JAKTA’s 5th Gaming Congress Summarising the situation in Europe - EUROMAT’s perspective - Belgrade, 22 October 2012 Helmut Kafka, Vice-President, EUROMAT

1. JAKTA’s 5th Gaming Congress
Summarising the situation in Europe
- EUROMAT’s perspective -
Belgrade, 22 October 2012
Helmut Kafka, Vice-President, EUROMAT

2.  Established in 1979, EUROMAT represents the interests of
manufacturers, distributors and operators of gaming and
amusement machines outside casinos
 23 national member associations from 18 different European
countries
 Combined industry turnover of 21 billion Euro; 27% of the
overall gambling sector
 Directly employ approximately 250.000 European citizens

3. Where are
we now?
Where do
we want to
go?

4.  The rapid rise of legal and illegal remote gambling
services provided across the EU
 The rules in most of our countries: a barrier to
innovation
 Legislative frameworks that do not keep up with the
speed of technological development
 Unlevel playing field across the gambling arena

5. Land-based sector Remote sector
Legislative frameworks that hinder
capacity to adapt to new technologies
Legislative frameworks?
Strictly enforced rules No enforcement of rules
Strict requirements Lax requirements
Extremely high taxes Preferential tax regimes (“state-aid”!)
Unfair competition cannot be tolerated!

6.  EUROMAT welcomed the launch of the debate
 The EU institutions are taking the right approach:
◦ Respect the principle of subsidiarity
◦ No harmonised EU-wide set of rules for the entire gambling
arena.
◦ Due to significant moral, religious and cultural differences
between Member States gambling is better regulated at
national level

7.  The cross-border nature of remote gambling justifies an “EU
approach”
 A European (or international) framework of minimum
standards would ensure proper and effective regulation of
online gambling
 National regulators need to work together
 The EU institutions have a fundamental role to play in ensuring
that Member States have the tools and incentives required to
regulate and enforce at national level operating licenses across
the spectrum of gambling services

8.  EUROMAT supports the Commission’s efforts to mantain a
strong and consistent EU framework to protect consumers and
businesses against the risks of money laundering (AML) and
terrorist financing (CTF)
 But, machines available in gaming arcades entail only low
stakes and low payouts and thereby represent only very
minimum or no AML/CTF risks
 We need to avoid the imposition of an excessive burden on
lower risk activities

9.  In order to foster future growth, we need to ensure a
level-playing field across the European gambling
arena:
◦ A fair and adequate taxation regime
◦ Same regulatory requirements for all operators
◦ Requirements must properly enforced
 National rules need to be structured in such a way as
to allow us to innovate and keep pace with demand

10.  Only if we work together will we be able to find the
best way to turn the threats and challenges that our
industry is facting into real opportunities both for
our industry, as well as for society.
Let’s works together,
let’s discuss!

11. Don’t hesitate to contact us:
European Gaming & Amusement Federation
Rue du Trône 60 - 1st floor
1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
T: +32 (0)2 626 1993
F: +32 (0)2 626 9501
E: secretariat@euromat.org
www.euromat.org