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Protectionist Estonia

Concerns throughout Europe are now rising as the European Commission negotiates with the Estonian government to put the kibosh on plans to implement a protected and closed Estonian gambling market. Estonia is one of the smaller EU countries that has remained off of the radar for the most part – all of that is changing though as Estonian officials announced plans to alter existing gambling laws to reflect a more Estonia-centric attitude. Up until this point, Estonia has allowed online casinos to operate for the Estonian market, but all gambling servers had to be located outside of the country. That policy has now done a complete 180 degree turn and the Estonian government recently announced that any online casinos operating for Estonian gamblers must host their servers within Estonia.

That’s a pretty significant policy change, and one that is not going to sit well the European Commission because this new Gambling Act will violate part of the EU’s policies regarding the free trade of goods and services between EU member states. Warnings from the Commission though have not stopped the Estonian government from continuing with these plans. From a protectionist standpoint, the policies are solid. Estonians will now have to funnel all gambling monies through national gambling companies that are based in Estonia, but from the EU perspective, that’s not entirely fair.

The Estonian government announced that the changes will take place in 2010 and anticipates generating new jobs within the country throughout the year as more online casino gambling groups are forced to move servers and operations into the country if they want access to Estonian gamblers. These actions though will put Estonia on the European Commission’s watch list for possible recommendation to the European Court of Justice – not a positive place to be all in all.