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Europe is currently full of different opinions on online gambling regulation. As a result, legislation changes from country to country and in countries such as Germany even from state to state. To combat this, plans had been put forward that suggested continent wide online gambling law would be a good idea.
However John Penrose, UK MP and Minister for Tourism and Heritage, has spoken out against the plans and announced that he believes such a system would be unworkable.
He added: "In the UK we have light touch regulation and an open market but member states have more conservative views on gambling and their legislation is more restrictive."
This is certainly no revelation as it doesn't take much to figure out that different countries will have differing opinions on certain issues. If this weren't the case then there would just be one set of worldwide rules.
Penrose added the reasons behind these differences were clear: "These differences have deep roots and spring from fundamentally different religious traditions and managing the always-fuzzy dividing line between harmless and potentially harmful."
It sounds as if the chances of the UK agreeing to any Europe-wide regulation are low but that's certainly not a bad thing. As it is at the moment, the UK is one of the most liberal countries with regards to online gambling and long may that continue.
