Home	Tutorial	Online Casino Reviews	Best Online Casinos	Casino Software	Casino News

Online Casino Gambling --- Casino News

Austria Not Helping Either

The European Union has a tough situation in place right now as the higher court, the European Court of Justice, has ruled that there are circumstances under which countries can limit the online casino gambling action while the European Commission contends that all of Europe should operate on the same level. The Commission has worked extensively over the past several years to level the playing field and force countries with monopolies to open their borders to European competition. For that reason it’s particularly disconcerting that the Austrian government has just changed the internet gambling laws in the country and yet there has been very little change in the policies for foreign operators.

Austria is one of the countries that the Commission has worked with and pressured to revise online casino gambling policies – and yet now, two years later, the new regulations are no where near as inclusive as the Commission requires for compliance. Austria has severely limited licenses for foreign online casinos to operate in the Austrian market, now though three additional licenses are being offered – but the terms of licensing still give preference to in-country companies versus the foreign operators, the very thing the Commission is fighting against.

The online casinos are not particularly pleased with the new regulations, which had a lot of potential and yet failed to deliver on an improved and broader Austrian market. The land gambling industry on the other hand has expanded greatly and with more slot machine availability and more land licensing opportunities as well.