A controversial MEP report on online gambling, which was recently accused of being severely prejudiced against the legitimacy of the industry by a senior figure at the UK’s Gambling Commission, was formally adopted by an EU Internal Market committee yesterday ahead of a full vote in the European Parliament in early March.

Representatives from European casino, lotteries and pari-mutuel associations have publicly supported a controversial MEP report on online gambling likely to be formally adopted by the European parliament next week. The report’s author also countered charges of a perceived pro-state monopoly bias at a seminar in Brussels yesterday, as lobbying surrounding the report continues to intensify.

As incoming European Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier gave a broadly neutral pledge to MEPs that he would seek coherent EU rules on gambling, both state and private interests moved quickly to claim his plans supported their cause.

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has moved to denounce the European Parliament’s expected formal adoption of a controversial report written by a Danish MEP that suggests a link between the rise of online gambling and increased corruption in sport.

European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has confirmed that Michel Barnier, France’s former agriculture minister, is to replace Irishman Charlie McCreevy as European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services.

European Parliament last week saw MEPs raise concern at possible deregulation of the gambling market, but observers predict that the ECJ will propel the gambling debate in the short term.

In the closing months of this European Parliamentary session an MEP has added her contribution to the debate over online gambling regulation with an own-initiative report. Nevertheless the report has quickly become the focus of intensive lobbying efforts by sporting groups to bolster their intellectual property rights and impose a compulsory levy on gambling operators.

A controversial own-initiative report by Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose on the integrity of online gambling has attracted a raft of changes from political interests across the European gambling world, setting the scene for a lively debate when the bill is discussed next month.

The progress of an own-initiative report on online gambling, overseen by the European parliament’s Internal Markets Committee and authored by Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose, has galvanised lobbying efforts by both private and monopoly operators, but it has also depth-charged unexpected levels of concern by MEPs about gambling legislation in Europe. In this exclusive interview with GamblingCompliance, Schaldemose describes the motivations behind the report and her expectations of its next stages.

Europe’s top court yesterday handed state-run lotteries a resounding victory in their battle to defend themselves from competition in the field of online gambling.