EU Online Gambling Landscape - Changes to Expect in 2019

The European iGaming market remains one of the most open and lucrative in the world, with intercountry collaboration enabling brands to operate in various jurisdictions across the continent.

Despite this, however, there's no single regulatory body that holds sway over the European market, and this can create issues in terms of maintaining industry standards and effectively safeguarding players in specific countries and EU member states.

This could well change in 2019, with Maarten Haijer (the current Director General of the European Gaming and Betting Association) pushing for EU policymakers to develop a common rule book for iGaming in the continent. But how else is the iGaming landscape likely to change in Europe this year, and how will these developments impact on the marketplace?

The Rise of Online Bingo in Italy and Mainland Europe

Online bingo accounts for a relatively small part of the GGY in the UK, generating just 3.5% of total revenues in 2017. It remains a more a prominent part of the iGaming landscape in other European nations, however, and this may have something to do with its origins as a popular game in Italy and France.

In fact, the latest EU nation to fully embrace online bingo is Italy, where licensees have been offered the chance to add a host of bingo variations to their product offerings.

This represents the final piece of the jigsaw in terms of Italian regulatory framework, as protocol previously prevented gambling brands from marketing bingo games and diversifying their games' libraries accordingly.

Most recently, the world's leading omni-channel gaming firm (Playtech) has announced that it will finally launch its expanded bingo platform in Italy, through collaborations with...

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