Austrian Online Gambling Executives Held in France

Two executives of Austria's online gambling company BWIN Interactive Entertainment Ag, Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger, were detained in France on Friday and questioned for allegedly violating French gaming laws. They were released late today on a bail of €300,000 each. The investigation against Bodner and Teufelberger in France is concerned with BWIN's alleged conduct advertising its gambling product in France and accepting bets from citizens of France. Earlier this year, three German states apparently banned BWIN from operating in their territories.

Policy makers in the EU are already divided on the issue of the competence of individual states to restrict gambling in their territories to state-owned monopolies. Many EU gaming lawyers argue that European state gambling monopolies are inconsistent with EU competition law. However, considering the unique nature of gambling and the overriding concern to ensure its integrity by, inter alia, ensuring the absence of criminals in gaming and restricting minors from having any access to gambling, member states restricting gambling would have cause to argue that maintaining a state monopoly is the only way to maintain the public order. Several member states have indicated that they will challenge state gambling monopolies at the EU Court of Justice to ensure that online gambling services can be provided anywhere in the EU by any member state. This will be an interesting area to watch in the months to come.