Blow for anti-monopoly wars as ECJ rules against Bwin 08/09/2009
BWIN HAS lost the latest round of its battle against the Portugese state monopoly, setting a legal precedent likely to set back gambling operators fighting monopolies all over Europe.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), the European Union’s highest court, ruled today that a Portuguese law giving state-run charity La Santa Casa da Misericordia (SCM) a monopoly on betting and lottery games is legal if it is designed to combat fraud and other crimes.
EU rules ensure that companies can provide goods and services freely across EU borders, but the ECJ ruled that this right can be restricted if the public interest is at stake.
"The prohibition which Portuguese legislation imposes on operators such as Bwin of offering games of chance via the internet may be regarded as compatible with the freedom to provide services," the court said in its ruling.
The case against Bwin and the Portuguese football league, which Bwin has sponsored since 2005 (Bwin Liga), is the first in which the ECJ has ruled on whether an EU member state can extend a gambling monopoly to the internet, and its verdict on the case could be pivotal for the European egaming sector.
The case was brought by SCM and referred to the ECJ by the court of first instance in Porto, and will now be referred back to the court in Porto to make a final ruling on.
For more on this story, see the responses to the ruling from Bwin and the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA).
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Posted: 08/09/2009
User comments
Anonymous
A state owned gaming monopoly is legal "If designed to combat fraud and other crimes". How about proving it provides more protection than BWIN? If BWIN can prove it has similar or improved anti fraud or crime measures put in place, surely this ruling can't be upheld.
Anonymous
Surely most legally operating entities in Europe should operate systems that are designed to combat fraud and other crimes. How is that linked to a company having a right to be the exclusive provider of such services?
Anonymous
The monopolies aren't in place to combat fraud and corruption, but to fraudulantly make money for the state, a further tax if you will. Theres a campaign online at www.right2bet.net which is against these monopolies - check it out!
Marcos
The European Court of Justice has issued opinions covering the cross border provision of gaming services establishing; for instance, in the Placanica case, that national licensing procedures cannot be applied in a de facto discriminatory manner against foreign gaming operators.
Also, in the Gambelli case, the ECJ ruled that Articles 43 and 49 of the EC Treaty - covering the freedom to establish a business and the freedom to sell services across borders respectively – applied to gaming services.
In the Placanica case, the ruling emphasizes that regulation cannot be a smokescreen for discriminatory trade practices and make clear that sneaky attempts by member states to circumvent the free movement of services to protect local favorites will not be tolerated. However, national governments still have considerable latitude to determine how and when to regulate the gaming sector, provided that measures enacted were proportionate to the perceived social ills associated with gambling.
Though these rulings continue to push the EU for equitable treatment between the member states, as many EU states have local monopolies to protect, the truth is that national governments still try to force their own laws in the gambling sector. Please have a look at http:right2bet.net/ and sign a petition in favor of a more integrationist single market.
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Pah!
The old 'anti-corruption' fall back of every monopoly up against the wall... I can't believe the ECJ actually backed it.
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