hello viewers and welcome to the latest episode of the Huddle I have with me Martin H um Secretary General of the egba your first time on the Huddle welcome thank you very much uh pleasure to have you on uh plenty we can talk about because you're covering the pretty much the the whole of Europe um can we start off with uh reflecting on on what the last 12 months have have had in store for for you guys yeah it's been a busy year I guess for everyone of course um we worked a lot on regulation uh a lot of regulatory developments across Europe a lot of concerns as well more strict regulation um but yeah that's I think the name of the game that we're are in at the moment so that's been very busy for us and then we did quite a lot of work around safer gambling which is a high priority it's related to regulation of course as well so uh that's something that we will continue to develop but uh we have a proposal how to have a standardized markers of har in Europe which is being negotiated now that's one of our priorities and then the other thing that's really important for the operators as well is have made guidelines on AML because the rules in Europe around AML are really based for financial services they're not geared towards the industry our industry or other Industries and so we have developed guidelines how these AML rules need to be implemented by the gambling industry so these are examples of things that we've been doing the last past 12 months what's it like for you guys covering a many different markets and and and they're so very different is it similar to perhaps an operator a multinational operator in that you have to adapt to you you work with people in in one market and they have these rules and in this market slightly different regulations what's what's that like and what challenges does that bring it is challenging but it's also super exciting of course because we we yeah we can see across Europe and obviously we don't have the access to the people politicians like someone that's in a local market but we do have the advantage of having the knowledge of different markets that we can bring to political discussion in a specific jurisdiction so that's one of the huge advantages that we have we have a good overview what's happening and we can use the date and information examples when we go in and speak to Regulators for instance so that's been uh um yeah that's that's challenge but it's about the third of what we do another third of what we do is European legislation I told you before anti- money laundering the new rules on how the internet is governed financial services and about one other third of our work is around safer gambling and and public affairs and communication and that part is hugely increasing as well in terms of performance and and regulation in the last s of I guess again 12 months which countries have I guess uh maybe I'm not sure how to right way to phrase it but but pleased you the most and give the most encouragement I mean as you know there's a lot of political discussions about regulation so it's very difficult to pick out one market that's really the best but Denmark has been pretty stable they have still stable regulation and they're very much focusing safer for gambling so that would be one of my examples and Spain is another example where there's a lot of political discussion at the moment but for the time being it's still a good Market that's that's accessible for operators uh but as as you noticed today as well in your talks with other people um things are moving things are under pressure so we'll have to wait and see where this goes sure and in the interest of balance if I were to flip it and say which countries have perhaps uh given you the most work and uh perhaps not necessarily concerned but again presented the most challenges are there any that have been particularly difficult recently I mean there there's differen between us being concerned about something and being very busy about it but for both I think really Germany has been yeah quite disappointing to be was such a huge market and the fact that there would be regulation was very hopeful but it yeah it's very difficult to see how this will develop positively based on what's currently happening so I would say Germany is really disappoint appointment in in in in our in our where it could have gone and where we are at and I guess the lag of vision where it should be going as well yeah I mean this week we'll be speaking with jur Hoffman of Mel's law and um it's always interesting speaking to him but at the same time I can see what you mean it's whenever I speak to him there's been little movement in Germany little development yeah I think there's they haven't really made up their minds in Germany what they want to achieve they don't have a proper vision of where they want to go if you compare to France where they're now thinking about potentially regulating the casino market and they went from turnover to ggr um not to say that's a perfect Market but there's a vision where it should be going in Germany it seems to be lacking and I think that kind of the kind of is the reason why it's not moving forward and why certain things are just stagnating it seems Yeah you mentioned France let's let's talk about France next because it was it was on my list um I mean can we see the the country regulating online casino anytime soon I mean I guess if it needs to be done it needs to be done fairly soon because there will be elections coming up so usually those are not very good the combination of gambling and elections don't go well together so if it happens it has happen in short notice relatively short or otherwise will be postponed to after the election so yeah the positive thing is there is discussion and the reason why there's a discussion because there's a very good report the French regulator regulator saying that over 3 million people play online casino games very much also since Co and there are estimations that the online casino Market is around2 billion EUR ggr and if you want to have a protected customers you need to regulate not prohibit I think that's the conclusion of not explicitly but of the report of the French regulator and it really set into motion discussion we are hopeful but yeah we're certainly not certain that something will happen but we're happy with the discussion that is taking place at the moment sure and moving slightly South and perhaps I'm not sure if it's less positive but Italy um the egba recently spoke about um maybe give us an overview of the situation there at the moment I mean Italy is Market has been regulated very early on I think it was after UK one of the first markets have been regulated in a positive way um it's difficult to see where the Italian market currently is heading um yet the advertising ban which we think is very counterproductive we appreciate as concerns advertising not just in Italy many places they can be different tone they can be maybe less but a complete Bend we think is really not helpful it's counterproductive it's good for the black markets not good for consumer protection and more recently the idea to have hugely increased licensing fees which are really millions of Euros also there the question is we appreciate there needs to be tax revenue in these difficult times but this is not the way to raise tax so what is the vision what's the view behind these changes in the gambling market and is is there a concerned that the market will still function after these changes or do Italian politicians is that not in their consideration so where is the vision where is the view I think that's that's in Italy really a serious concern for us sure sure a couple of final questions for me uh looking ahead um quite broadly what can we expect from the egba in 2024 obviously we work more on regulation uh that's absolutely key for our members uh raising the bar of the industry so as I said I think on safer gambling the industry really needs to move a gear up uh we we are moving in the right direction as a whole but we certainly need to do more we should not give politicians the arguments to say that they need to regulate because the industry does nothing we need to I mean you can't do it 100% but we need need to be much more proactive so we're trying to raise the bar get the whole industry with us uh there will be important Focus will be European Parliament elections new commission we don't expect European regulations for the whole sector but digital consumers uh vulnerable consumers um minor protection online these will be themes that will be on the agenda maybe not gambling specific but that will touch our sector as well so that's what we're looking forward to as well um and yeah a number of initiatives that we're employing ourselves so we yeah busy Year again to be honest sure and I wanted to end on a positive note uh I know you mentioned earlier Denmark is a positive Market but if you were to pick out one Market or country that you think you can we can genuinely expect something something good this year from in terms of either performance or regulation or new initiatives is there one you could I know it's a bit of a crystal ball question but is is there one that you you might be hoping for big things from France that would be very good and I think it'll also be good because France of course is quite in the perception of people quite heavily regulated country in general if France would then regulate online Cino I think we very positive and the other country I would pick out is Finland because Finland is the last country in Europe in the EU at least that still has an online Monopoly yes and they are at stage of their be legislative proposal and if that's the case we won't have any pure monopolies online anymore so very positive development so I pick out France and uh and Finland is my two positive picks excellent uh well like I say it's good to end on a positive note um we know in in gambling with with reputation and regulation in the past you know not always the right headlines but but certainly hopefully some positive headlines this year but uh thank you very much it was good to talking to you yeah and uh yeah great initiative to have these discussions thank you very much and and thanks for thanks for joining us cheers speak to you soon pleasure to our viewers thanks for watching