Gaming Law International

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.

Online Gambling in der Österreich

A new study published today shows that Austrians spent approximately € 1.3 billion gambling online in 2005. On a per capita basis, they spent € 177, more than four times as much as Germans (at € 40) and almost five times as much as the Swiss (at € 36). Part of the difference in gambling spending is attributable to legislative differences between Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Read more here.  Canada is very similar to Austria in terms of cultural tastes, educational levels among adults, per capita income and population which leads me to believe that if we permitted and regulated state operated or independently operated online gambling in Canada, it would generate approximately CDN $1.833 billion in annual revenue for provincial governments.  (Austria's beautiful Constitutional Court is pictured here).

Hilton Sticking to Online Gaming in Europe

Cool post from Reuters today reporting on an announcement by the Hilton Group PLC in Britain to become a pure gaming company and increase the provision of online gaming services in Europe and Asia. The Group changed its name to Ladbrokes PLC to coincide with its new image as a gaming services provider.

EU Service Directive Exempts Gambling

The European Parliament voted last week to approve First Reading of the Service Directive, exempting gambling from its application. The aim of the Directive is to create a freer market for the services sector by removing the legal and administrative barriers that hinder the provision of services between member states and bringing the EU in line with the provisions of the Treaty of Rome. As gambling was exempt from the Directive, it will be left to the European Court of Justice to determine the competence of member states that seek to restrict or prevent the provision of gambling services across member states.

Proposed Italian Restrictions Not Welcome in UK

The Register is reporting that gaming companies in the UK are threatening to take legal action against the Italian government to challenge proposed Italian legislation that would prohibit Italian ISPs from allowing access to certain online gambling operators (those who are not registered to provide gaming services in Italy). In November, several gambling operators formally complained to the EU Commission that the proposed law would prevent member state access to the Italian marketplace. I'll keep posting on this issue as it develops.

Regulation of Gambling in Europe

Tilburg University (in the Netherlands) hosted a Colloquium to discuss perspectives from the European Union and the Member States on the jurisdiction of the regulation of gambling on November 23, 2005. I sure wish I could have attended. Currently, gambling is within the jurisdiction of Member States but this may change in the very near future. The European Commission and the European Parliament are currently debating whether "gambling services" from Member States should be included in the EU's "Service Directive" being proposed. Moreover, the EU Court of Justice has ruled in the past that the provision of services is not necessarily exclusively within the purview of Member States. The explosive growth of online and mobile gaming is another issue confronting the EU as much of the gambling is cross-border, perhaps necessitating greater EU control over the industry. I have no doubt that In the next five years, this will be one of the top issues facing the EU Parliament.

New Gambling Legislation Passed in Moscow

The Moscow City Duma has passed new gambling legislation aimed at controlling the city's gambling industry which will result in about 25,000 gambling machines being removed from operation in the city. According to the report from Kommersant, Moscow currently has 56 casinos, more than 2,000 playing halls and over 67,000 game machines. Read the report here.