The European Commission has concluded its enquiry into the gambling sector. While the sector is of substantial economic importance and Community law applies, the completion of the SIngle Market does not require legislative intervention. The Commission will not be launching any legislative initiatives in this area. Cross-frontier activity and the interest in establishment in different Member States remain relatively limited. The sector is essentially incidental to the operation of the rest of the economy. The principle of mutual recognition can apply between existing national legal regimes directly under the Treaty where appropriate. According to Vice-President Martin Bangemann, "Anyone should be able to place a bet anywhere. Controls on operators can remain as effective as ever". Existing regulations on gambling reflect such underlying considerations as: the need to prevent criminal activity and money laundering; the avoidance of fraud, controlling the urge to gamble; and the social value of allocating a proportion of gambling proceeds to specific causes, such as sports, charities and cultural projects. Such matters should remain in the hands of the Member States. However, if, for example, cross-frontier activities can and do take place and the regulation of the essential requirements in one Member State are matched in another, there is no reason why mutual recognition should not apply. This is the line of reasoning which the Commission has applied in its observations to the European Court in Case C-275/92 concerning the cross-frontier sale of German Klassenlotterie tickets into the UK. As the Community becomes ever more closely integrated, and technological developments open up markets worldwide, it can not be precluded that the Commission will have to reconsider its position in view of new and as yet unforseeable trends. * * *
