The Path to Regulatory Best
Practice in Europe
with GSA Standards
John Purcell
Overview
 Introduction
 The European Gambling Industry
 European Legislative Background
 The Advance to Standards
 The Problems & Solutions
 GSA by Stealth; Adoption by default
 GSA – Template for Sustainable Gambling Industry
 Case Studies & Market Specific Information
Introduction
 The European Gambling Industry
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Revenues in the EU27, €84bn in 2011
€9.3bn online with annual growth of 14.7%
Online estimated to grow to 14.2% by 2015, €13bn
Very low online substitution of offline revenues
 Proven in CAGR of offline gambling continuing to increase
 Market Segmentation
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Lotteries 43.7% (24% US)
Casino Gaming 15.9% (58% US)
Machine Gambling outside casinos 18.3% (5% US)
Betting 17.3% (5% US)
Bingo 4.8% (5% US)
Introduction
 European Legislative Background
 EU Policy for Gambling
 Compliance of national regulatory frameworks with
EU law
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Enhancing administrative cooperation
Protecting consumers and citizens
Preventing fraud and money laundering
Safeguarding the integrity of sports and preventing
match-fixing
Diversity?
The EU is a broad and
diverse patchwork of
differing laws, rules &
regulations.
Majority now using
the Italian model as
they were early adoptors.
The Advance to Standards
 Which standards to choose?
 EN, ISO, ISACA, COBIT, ITIL, TickIT & of course GSA
 ‘Traditional’ technology standards did not suffice for
gambling industry
 Commercial testing labs could not dictate jurisdictional
policy
 Commercial vendors adoption of GSA principles
facilitated open standards satisfactory to governments in
many jurisdictions
 Early Adoptors include;
 UK, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria
The Problems & Solutions
 Regulatory Problems
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Why choose one method over another?
Do I choose largest ‘live’ methodologies as best practice?
How do I safeguard my jurisdiction?
How do I consider other non gambling laws in my jurisdiction?
 Finance/Tax, Public Expenditure, Local Government
 How do satisfy the three pillars of regulation?
 Keep gambling free from crime
 Keep gambling fair and open
 Protect the vulnerable
The Problems & Solutions
 Solutions
 Find a method being adopted internationally as best practice
 Map best practice standards to existing regulation
 Reciprocal symbiosis – regulation also influenced by standards as
a result
 Ensure communication of standardisation to internal market
 Ensure strict data management policies for accurate data to
affect public policy
 Draft
 Rules of operation, manufacture and usage
 Publication of standards to be adhered to
 Procedure(s) for ensuring compliance using standard(s)
GSA by Stealth;
Adoption by default
 GSA? What is GSA in Europe?
 In Europe, GSA is the EU body for SatNav management?
 S2S, G2S, GDS
 The adoption and implementation by vendors and operators of
GSA standards has driven jurisdictional analysis to compare
technology usage to GSA standards as a ‘yardstick’
 Adopted as ‘accepted practice’ in Italy, UK, Germany,
Norway, Sweden, Holland, Spain
 Adopted as legal standard in Austria and Albania
GSA – Template for Sustainable
Gambling Industry
 What is a sustainable gambling industry?
 Sustainable business - Only with corporate responsibility can
market economies survive.
 Partnered governance
 Governance of these markets needs to be tackled collectively and
co-operatively. Companies innovate to create sustainable practice
and reduce public health costs.
 Performance Based Regulation
 Incentivised performance based regulation rather than a
prescriptive system which cannot possibly keep pace with the
speed of technology and product development.
 Licensing
 Operating licences in new jurisdictions where gambling harms are
a big consideration for policy makers and regulators.
GSA – Template for Sustainable
Gambling Industry
 If the gambling industry can be measured it can be controlled
 How does one measure it?
 Standardise the modus operandi (GSA)
 Adopt and implement best practice (GSA)
 Permit public policy to evolve in a sustainable gambling
industry with metrics for decision making provided by
standards based systems management (GSA)
Case Study - Austria
 Tender granted by BRZ GmbH for central monitoring system
nationwide to ComTrade
 Management of 15,000 gaming machines/VLT’s and 33
licensees (Standardisation of data collection with GSA
compliance)
 G2S defined as requirement standard for machines to central
control system
Case Study - Albania
 Tender competition live
until 20th June
 Management of 10,000
gaming machines,
betting terminals,
lottery system and
more than 25 licensees
(Standardisation of
data collection,
protocols and
integration with GSA
compliance)
 1 casino, 1100 plus
gaming halls, new
lottery system
GSA Adoption in Europe
 Italy (Regulator – AAMS) – 12 VLT operators, almost 60,000 machines
adopting GSA standards (among others) with most of EU adopting Italian
methodologies (one of few jurisdictions to report monthly)
 Germany – Over 42,000 machines in Gausselman and related companies,
Spielo (formerly Atronic), Apex, Amatic, AGI and more.
 Spain – Primary GSA recognised standards being adopted as EU wide
supply chain becomes more in tune such as Codere progressing
standardisation, R. Franco, Metronia – Est 40,000+ machines but could be
as high as 60,000
 UK – 20,000+ FOBT’s, 30,000+ Slots plus numerous digital bingo, slots
and casino systems using GSA protocols in operators such as Gala, Rank,
Praesape
 Greece – Hellenic Lottery leader, Intralot utilises GSA protocols (as well
as ISACA’s COBIT 5) in over 100,000 devices globally
GSA Adoption in Europe
 Albania – already mentioned, 10,000+ devices
 Kosovo – exploring national monitoring, GSA underpinned
 Macedonia – as above, live now
 Romania – as above, live now
 Ireland – initial explorations of standards for new legislation in
draft
 France – operators already utilising GSA but unknown numbers,
estimate as many as 50,000 devices GSA compliant
 Rest of EU27 – shallow pool of suppliers <50, 75% use GSA
standards already in a market of c.500,000+ devices.
GSA Adoption in Europe
 By inference, GSA is recognised and used or planned to be
used in;
 More than 500,000 machines
 All EU27 EUROSTAT countries, plus accession and candidate
countries (7-10 others)
 Drafting procedures for managing methodologies in high
technology gambling industry in at least 8 major EU markets
 Drafting procedures for administration of national networks in
at least 7 countries
 Tenders live or in draft for national monitoring systems in 4
countries
GSA in Europe?
 Yes and will continue to increase its pivotal role in gambling
technology implementation
 Wish List from EU (not just for GSA)
 Regulatory standards for technology usage offline and online
 Information resource(s) to assist regulators (aside from P&A)
 ‘Templates’ for best practice in technology market analyses to
compare to GSA
 ‘Templates’ for national monitoring system(s) to ensure open
standards and best of breed solutions
 …not much to ask for really!
QUESTIONS?
John Purcell
Managing Director
Purcell & Associates
16/17, South Terrace, Cork, Ireland.
T: +353 (0) 21 431 6776
E: jpurcell@purcellassociates.net
one of the leading sources of consultancy
expertise in the gambling industry.