EU ruling affects Online Gambling Industry

The recent European Court of Justices ruling on Portugal's state-run betting/lottery services provider, Las Santa Casa de Misericordia (state betting monopoly) is a short-term blow to the European online gambling industry. The case concerns a dispute between the Santa Casa and Bwin (owner of the website betandwin.com). Santa Casa tried to break up a sponsorship deal involving the Portuguese football league that allowed Bwin to advertise its website to fans.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the ECJ said: “The prohibition imposed on operators such as Bwin of offering games of chance via the Internet may be regarded as justified by the objective of combating fraud and crime.” This ruling is a massive boost for state monopilies and already we have seen this ruling having an impact. Ladbrokes have pulled out of a similar case against the Norwegian Government after the Norwegian Government indicated that they would be using the Portuguese case as precedent.

Bwin has asked for an updating of EU regulations to face the latest market trends. “Online gaming has become a market reality. There is an urgent need to develop a legal framework in tune with the times to warrant the interest of consumers, the state and operators,” Bwin Co-CEO Manfred Bodner said. The other Bwin co-CEO, Norbert Teufelberger, added, “Only a regulated online gaming market with a diversified and attractive line-up of games will provide adequate security against the risks of a black market.”

The European Court of Justice case is what the European online gambling vendors are trying to prevent. The regulated European online gambling industry has responded angrily to this ECJ ruling. They say that if the laws are not updated, a black market will thrive and more citizens will fall prey to the potential downfalls associated with online gambling. Italy, France and Great Britain have already made concessions to change legal framework allowing for cross border trade of internet betting services as opposed to the position Portugal and Norway has taken.

The ray of hope in this whole scenario is that Bwin has swallowed this hard-to-take pill and are continuing to provide services to a large portion of the European internet betting sector.

Written for Online Keno by Greg