European online gambling association, the Remote Gambling Association("RGA") has expressed disappointment at a recently issued opinion of the European Court of Justice.
We reported last week that the ECJ had offered its opinion on a case between Portuguese betting monopoly Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Lisboa and Bwin and Liga who were fined in relation to a sponsorship deal that Santa Casa claimed constituted a breach of local laws.
The matter was referred to the ECJ who ruled that protection of a State run monopoly through restrictive laws is legal if it can be shown that the prohibition was intended to combat criminal activity.
The RGA, whose members include a who's who of online gambling heavyweights such as Ladbrokes, 888.com, Unibet and Bet365 has not surprisingly expressed considerable disappointment at the ruling and moved to throw cold water the wider implications it may have.
“We regret that in its preliminary ruling the European Court Of Justice did not take a further step toward the fair treatment of gambling services in the internal market but remain hopeful that the Portuguese courts will ultimately render a fair verdict,” said Clive Hawkswood, the RGA's CEO.
He went on to try and dilute the significance of the decision in the overall EU online gambling landscape adding:
“The narrow scope of this ruling reduces its significance in the overall legal context as it is not a departure from previous rulings. Thus, nothing in it should stop the European Commission from pursuing ongoing infringement proceedings against the clearly unlawful gambling regulations in multiple jurisdictions nor should member states construe this ruling as permission to enact protectionist regulations that are still unlawful under the European Court Of Justice’s controlling jurisprudence."
No doubt there will be some EU countries keen to test whether Clive's position is correct and seek to try and use this new loophole to impose legal online gambling prohibitions of their own.
For more details on the RGA and other Euro centric online gambling associations, click here.
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