EU Gets Legal on German, Swedish Online Gaming RulesEuropean Commission Starts Legal Proceedings Against German Gaming Ban; Sweden Also Under Formal Investigation |
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The European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner today issued a letter of formal notice to German authorities — the first stage in legal proceedings — in relation to the German Interstate Treaty, which effectively banned all online gaming and betting in the country from Jan. 1, 2008.
Formal objections had already been raised by the European Commission under its notification procedure (Directive 98/34/EC) that the Treaty was counter to existing EU law, and now the Commission is set to take the ruling all the way to the European Court of Justice if necessary in order to defend EU competition law.
The Commission is challenging “the total prohibition of games of chance on the Internet notably sports betting; … advertising restrictions on TV, on the Internet, or on jerseys or billboards; and the prohibition on financial institutions to process and execute payments relating to unauthorised games of chance. In addition, questions are raised regarding the authorisation regime to be granted to intermediaries as well as the criminal sanctions or administrative fines provided for in cases of organisation, advertising, and participation in online games of chance.”
The move has been welcomed by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), an industry body made up of eight major industry players, including PartyGaming and BWin.
Secretary General of the EGBA Sigrid Ligné said, “By commencing these broad proceedings only 30 days after the Treaty entered into force, the Commission shows its determination to fight restrictions and in particular prohibitions, which are not backed by genuine consumer protection or public order interests. What happened in the U.S. proved that prohibition cannot be the answer. Trustworthy and highly transparent online gaming companies abandoned the U.S. market, thus paving the way for a grey market in which no guidelines whatsoever exist in terms of consumer protection, prevention of compulsive gaming, and protection of minors.”
The Commission also instigated proceedings today against state-run Swedish poker monopoly Svenska Spel, which continues to exclude EU-licensed poker companies from operating in the country despite doing so itself. Proceedings are already under way against Sweden for its stance on sports betting, and poker is now being formally targeted. Authorities have two months to show that their rules are compatible with EU law.
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