It is a sincere pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with Mr. Per Jaldung, Chairman of the European Casino Association on the organization’s role in European casino gaming.
G&L: Can you give us a bit of a background on the European Casino Association (ECA), when it formed and how it’s grown over the years?
PJ: The ECA was founded in the early 1990s as the European Casino Forum, which later developed into the European Casino Association (ECA). We have since grown steadily and today our membership spans across nearly all European Union (EU) Member States, as well as Switzerland, Serbia, San Marino and Montenegro. We are proud to represent the interests of approximately 900 casinos and more than 70,000 employees in 26 countries across Europe.
G&L: Which EU Member States have the largest land-based casino presence?
PJ: The largest number of casinos amongst our members is in France, followed by the Czech Republic and the UK. However, this is not a reflection of market success, but very often depends on the amount of casino licenses/ concessions provided through the respective national legislation.
G&L: Where in the EU do you see the greatest growth in casino gaming in the next five years?
PJ: That is very much dependent on the regulatory developments in the different countries. The gaming market in Europe is in general a very mature one and growth very much depends on the issue of new licenses and new products, as well as the termination of unlicensed gaming offers.
G&L: How active is the European Casino Association in driving innovation in Responsible Gambling? Do you see any changes in RG in the foreseeable future?
PJ: Responsible Gambling is a cornerstone for the land-based casino industry that the ECA represents. For the ECA, responsible operation of casinos is essential, both in terms of credibility as well as reputation of individual operators and the whole sector. ECA members have introduced an array of effective responsible gambling measures and processes that cover issues such as addiction prevention, employee training and cooperation with counselling and treatment institutions. The ECA is very active in encouraging the exchange of best practices between our members, which drives the dissemination of effective measures and practices in responsible gambling.
The topic of Responsible Gambling is nowadays extended to include advertising and sponsoring.
G&L: In February 2016, the ECA and the American Gaming Association (AGA) formed an alliance to combat illegal gambling. What are the issues the alliance intends to address?
PJ: As you say, we formed a partnership with the AGA earlier this year to jointly tackle illegal gambling. It is our common view that illegal gambling must be tackled to guarantee the safety of our consumers, prevent underage and problem gambling and, more importantly, to keep gambling free from crime. Besides putting pressure on policy-makers to take sustained action, we will share information and endeavor to reduce the demand and supply for illegal gambling.
G&L: How can EU Member States cooperate to address illegal gambling?
PJ: In our view, the Member States with the support of the EU institutions have a major role to play. There are a number of tools already available that combined can make a strong contribution to tackle the problem. These are tools such as payment blocking, IP blocking and advertising bans. The creation of white lists and black lists that identify legal and illegal operators have also proven very useful to inform consumers, banks, media and internet service providers.
G&L: With land-based casinos, EU Member States have had the right to determine what gambling services can be provided in their jurisdiction. How is this impacted with the rapid growth of online gaming? Will EU countries be able to retain similar control?
PJ: Without a doubt online gambling has taken off over the last years and grown substantially. Our concern, however, is that providers often do not have a license/concession in the countries they target and where they provide their services, which many times illegally sidesteps applicable national legislation. This is worrying as these operators do not always take the same approach to responsible gambling that is common in our industry on a national level.
However, EU countries are certainly able to retain control of all gambling services provided within their national borders, including online gambling. For this, a comprehensive and collaborative approach between all EU Member States and use of effective tools is necessary.
G&L: Again with online gaming, can you explain the ECA’s Member State approach of technical approximation?
PJ: The ECA strongly supports an increase in technological and security standards, and indeed land-based casinos are often at the forefront of this. In our view, it is important to improve knowledge-sharing and find common ground on technical issues between operators and regulators to improve cooperation toward better consumer protection and public order standards. It should, however, not be the aim to achieve blank European-wide harmonization and/or liberalization that risks lowering established national standards, which are necessary to ensure a controlled and responsible gambling environment.
G&L: Could you give us a bit of background on the European Dealer Championship and the ECA’s role with the Championship?
PJ: The European Dealer Championship (EDC), which has been organized by the ECA since 2007, gives European dealers the opportunity to showcase their skills and professionalism to a wide audience. The EDC has grown to become a well-recognized event that brings together Europe’s best dealers in a great competition. In 2016, the championship’s 10th anniversary event was held in Breda (Holland) to coincide with Holland Casino’s 40th anniversary. Next year, in 2017, we will hold the event in May at the stunning Hippodrome Casino in London.
G&L would like to thank ECA Chairman Per Jaldung for his time and contribution to this interview.