This is a guest contribution by Valentin Stanga content manager for the Malta based All In Translations. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.

iGaming is one of the most rapidly flourishing forms of entertainment across the European Union. With almost 7 million active daily players and expected annual revenues of approximately €13 billion in 2015, things look promising and upbeat, shaping a sizable market serviced by many of the leading gambling companies out there.

Surprising as it may seem, however, a great number of EU countries have been constantly hesitant on regulating online gaming. Juridical skepticism has mingled with unfounded concerns such as an abrupt rise in gambling addiction or the dilution of gusto for traditional land-based environments, keeping domestic markets incompatible with or closed to global competition.

It took a while for authorities to realize that zero regulation or a tight ban were not solutions for the future. Prohibition and obsolete laws usually result in illicit parallel markets, making legal control an impossible task where unlicensed operators and their players continue to contribute clandestinely to the show going on.