16 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • MARCH/APRIL 2026 our ability to connect with the consumer while having little impact of protecting the consumer. What initiatives can lotteries expect from EL to assist them in their efforts to inform, perhaps even influence, regulators and legislators on issues that affect lotteries? R. Girandon: Minimizing harm is a core responsibility of lotteries, but regulation must be proportionate to risk. Treating low-risk lottery products the same as high-risk gambling is counterproductive, weakening player trust and making safer play harder to achieve. The effect of misguided regulations like this is to channel players away from low-risk lottery over to higher-risk gaming options. That is why EL is leading responsible gaming in Europe with a risk- and evidence-based approach, aiming to set a practical European gold standard - clear, effective, comprehensive, pragmatic, and future-proof. As regulators become more demanding and technology opens new possibilities, EL is updating its responsible gaming standards and certification framework, with an independent expert panel developing the content. The revised standards will help members continuously improve while respecting the different regulatory environments in which they operate in. At the same time, the certification process is being modernized with a shared digital platform and a central independent assessment panel, reducing costs for members and ensuring high quality. The draft Standards are being shared with EL members for input, with the updated framework then set for final approval by the EL General Assembly in June. In short, members can expect EL to maintain a strong presence at European level while also providing some practical KPIs, benchmarks and tools to strengthen both EL’s advocacy and members’ dialogue with national regulators. Expectations regarding responsible gaming are high for lotteries. At the same time, competition is increasing, which can be detrimental to citizens. This is certainly the case when it comes to illegal providers of lottery games and games of chance who do not follow the rules, while lotteries strictly adhere to them. What can EL do to help lotteries combat the proliferation of illegal operators? R. Girandon: Illegal providers of games of chance are one of the biggest challenges. They don’t pay taxes, don’t contribute to good causes, and operate irresponsibly, putting players at risk. Still, they often gain visibility on major digital platforms, which helps them generate significant revenue. In addition to monitoring and interpreting legal cases and ensuring a coordinated sector response at European level, EL strengthens its support to members by systematically collecting and sharing best practices that have proven effective against illegal operators. We aim to make these practices available to EL members, European institutions and national regulators, so that effective tools can be applied more widely. Some regulators in Europe are calling for a joint approach. They advocate harmonization and common standards in the area of responsible gaming, because they consider themselves unable to combat this phenomenon of illegal providers of games of chance. R. Girandon: Recent experience shows why caution is needed. Last year, an initiative within the European standardisation framework to introduce EU-wide responsible gambling standards was stopped after EL, together with 34 member lotteries, demonstrated it could have undesirable societal consequences. This highlights the importance of subsidiarity and evidence-based input. Member States already have powerful tools at their disposal, such as payment blocking, website blocking and advertising restrictions. It is EL’s role to support members, and where relevant, their regulators, by sharing best practices and helping to find ways to implement these tools as effectively as possible. The EU Digital Services Act also offers an important opportunity, as it strengthens mechanisms to remove illegal content online. EL is exploring pilot projects with interested members to encourage major platforms to act more decisively against illegal gambling content. You mentioned the EU Digital Services Act. More legislation is being created in Europe that is not intended to regulate the gambling sector as such, but to regulate general aspects of consumer protection or to regulate certain phenomena in terms of digital crime. Don’t these initiatives have the effect of moving towards a harmonized EU approach to gambling as well? R. Girandon: Player protection is not primarily a question of harmonized rules, but of controlling the supply of gambling activities - what fundamentally distinguishes gambling from other economic services. Moral, cultural and social attitudes to gambling differ significantly across Europe, so regulation must remain the responsibility of each Member State, which decides how to protect its citizens and how far gambling in their environment should be offered. This principle needs to be clearly recognised at EU level. At the same time, EL advocates for explicit recognition of the unique role of lotteries in funding civil society. As Count Herman Van Rompuy, President Emeritus of the European Council and former Prime Minister of Belgium, highlighted at the 2025 EL Congress in Bern, the longstanding contributions of lotteries to good causes deserve a place in European policy discussions. Koen Lenaerts, President of the European Court of Justice, at a a Colloquium in Brussels in 2024, also emphasized that lotteries are part of the EU’s societal fabric, playing a formidable role on both sides: in how they engage with players, and in how proceeds are used to support charities and societal initiatives. EL will continue to actively engage with European institutions and relevant stakeholders to ensure this perspective is properly recognised. Let’s circle back to the beginning of this interview. EL is very ambitious, but how can these ambitious goals be achieved? R. Girandon: By uniting to be a singularly powerful voice, EL can be more than just the sum of its members. From my first experiences with EL, I’ve always seen it as a large and diverse community whose collective expertise, legacy, and reach are our real strength. While this diversity can be challenging, it sharpens our positions and constantly brings us back to our shared societal purpose. Our task is to use this diversity to clarify our commonalities and drive initiatives that matter both for our members and for society as a whole. It is also essential that all EL members – regular, observer and associate – feel that the Association’s work is relevant to their strategic and day-to-day activity. With this in mind, we recently adopted a new Strategic Outline with a concrete action plan for the period 2025-2027. It builds on our long-term priorities and clearly defines our focus areas. Maintaining a lean operational structure allows us to act efficiently. And with a renewed, motivated EL team and a new Secretary General, we also have the right people in place to make it happen. In short, balancing ambition with focus, and turning strategy into daily action, is what will make EL vision a reality. n
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