Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-10-Speech-2-976"
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"en.20090310.28.2-976"2
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"Mr President, I am very satisfied with the result of the vote on Mrs Schaldemose’s report on online gambling. It shows that the vast majority of Members of Parliament consider gambling to be an economic activity of a very special nature, to which the rules of the internal market cannot be applied exclusively.
The social impact of gambling and its effect on health, as well as the risks of crime associated with it and its special cultural aspects, must all be taken into account. That also applies to the many studies that show that the Internet as a tool multiplies these risks. Obviously, no one single authority alone could control online gambling throughout the whole of Europe.
Mrs Schaldemose’s report also mentions the positive effects of gambling, which I think it is very important to preserve. In many countries in Europe, the proceeds from these games amount to significant sums of money that go, for example, to the arts, science, youth work and hospitals. Thousands of NGOs benefit from the funding that they provide, besides which gambling games are the biggest source of income for EU-wide sports organisations and, in particular, grassroots sports activities.
The fact that a majority in Parliament are keen to preserve the current national laws on gambling policy and do not simply want to replace them with a code of practice, which would afford consumers far less protection, does not mean that the market should not be liberalised. It simply means that liberalisation has to be on the Member State’s own terms. Furthermore, if there is a desire to maintain national monopolies, the system must be non-discriminatory and legally justifiable."@en1
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