ECA in the fight with illegal gambling operators

The European Casino Association (ECA) is an organization that supports and promotes national and individual licensed land-based operators in Europe. One of its main touchpoints is the fight against illegal illicit operators and the promotion of casino industry with the help of some events, conferences, and meetings during the year.

ECA’s activity to combat illegal gambling operators

Commenting on the last 12 years of operating, ECA chairman Per Jaldung admitted that the previous year had been rather successful for the ECA. San Marino and Montenegro had become their new members and about 900 casinos and more than 70,000 employees from 26 countries are under their supervision now.

As Jaldung informed, the association did their best combating illicit gambling operators. They even issued some official papers to call on the European Commission and other policy-makers to create a comprehensive approach to deal with this growing sphere. They offered some of the tools to deal with the problem of illegal gambling. Among them were a mixture of payment and IP blocking. They also suggested the creation of white and black lists to inform customers, banks, Internet and media services operators as to the existing gambling providers.

Supportive Activity

As a representative of the official land-based casinos in Europe, ECA focuses on the events aiming at promoting the casino industry and supporting the efforts of its employees. As Jaldung explained, they were proud to organize different inspiring events throughout the year. For example, their European Dealer Championship brought together best European dealers to determine the European champion.

This European Dealer Championship takes place annually since 2007 and now its popularity grew. This year the event was held in Breda at Holland Casino. A cash prize of the event was €3,000 and Ray de Rozario took the European Dealer of the Year title this year. Next event of the series will take place in May in London at Hippodrome Casino.

Jaldung also told about their other events like the ECA summer meeting that took place in the popular Casino di Venezia. This two-day event organized together with the Italian umbrella association Federgioco united over 40 representatives of casinos and associations. During this meeting, they discussed the goals for the upcoming year. They plan to remain a reliable partner for all licensed European gambling institutions and to “provide the direct experience from the casino floor in the various ongoing discussions at the political level – on topics such as illegal gambling, anti-money laundering, and online gambling, as well as the positive impact of the land-based casino industry on society.”

Casino Cosmopol

Jaldung is not only the chairman of the ECA, but he is also the head of the Swedish Casino Cosmopol, which runs 4 of the national casinos. He said that 2016 had been a great year for Casino Cosmopol, as new machines and table games had been introduced, restaurants and shows had been revamped.

Partnership

ECA has also informed about their partnership with the American Gaming Association and their aim is to rise “global nature of illegal gambling” and to find “best practice in implementing measures against money laundering.”

ECA also told about its constant cooperation with lottery and parimutual providers, the European Association for the Study of Gambling to learn and “exchange best practices to address common issues for the entire gambling sector.”

Future Plans

Now ECA is preparing for the 2017 International Casino Conference (ICC) at Hippodrome Casino in London on February 6.

As Jaldung informed, during the conference they plan to talk about the future of the casino industry and how to attract new generation of players using new trends.