Poland has proposed the EU form a working group to combat unregulated gambling as part of a bid to recover lost tax revenue.

The Central European country, which has held the EU’s six-month rotating presidency since 1 January, argued EU countries should direct their focus to combatting unlicensed gambling.

In a note dated 19 December and seen by Bloomberg, Poland argued the EU Commission should form a working group composed of experts.

The note said: “Such group would serve as a platform facilitating the exchange of experience, knowledge, good practices and ideas between Member States.”

For example, the note added, countries could collaborate on the use of AI-powered technologies to combat unregulated websites.

The initiative could build on top of current Memoranda of Understandings between national gambling regulators, which often involve various kinds of information sharing.

Poland’s intervention is the latest in Europe’s ongoing battle between regulators and offshore gambling sites in the 449.2-million-person economic bloc.

The increasing move towards local licensing regimes in the 2010s and 2020s has empowered national gambling regulators, which have aggressively pursued offshore operators.  

While regulators have had limited success in targeting operators directly through fines and ISP blocks, recent action against suppliers suggest that governments are employing more innovative strategies to combat these sites.

The proposal also comes on the back of recent legal battles that have seen many white operators held liable for historic European grey market activity.

White Label Casinos CEO Phil Pearson recently told NEXT.io the international offshore market was becoming a lot greyer as a result of regulatory pressures.

One aspect of this trend is that many operators are looking further afield for licences beyond traditional offshore hubs like Curaçao and Gibraltar.

Pearson said: “Operators invested in strong compliance teams and high responsible gaming in the middle of the EU — Malta — but political motives from other EU regulators blinded them and, in killing the Maltese regulated industry, have created an uncontrollable web of offshore operations, much to the detriment of players.”

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