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Impact on European Online Casino Sites

For the very first time in the history of online casino gambling industry the European Court of Justice is beginning to get to the cases that were logged over the past several years regarding the state gambling monopolies and claims that nations are violating EU policies by blocking gambling sites from their markets. The European Commission has spent a huge amount of effort negotiating with the nations operating gambling monopolies and developing regulations with these nations that create a level playing field for all online casinos licensed within the EU. The court rulings are adding an interesting twist to the process through because the ECoJ has several rulings in place now that indicate that there are actually circumstances under which states can block and ban foreign gambling companies for the protection of their citizens.

The key in the ruling is that the nations have to prove that the monopoly is in place not to protect the monetary aspect of an online casino gambling monopoly but for the safety and protection of the gamblers themselves. That means that although the Commission has pushed for an open market with appropriate age limits and responsible gambling measures in place, the state monopolies may still prove that they are a safer alterative to legalized online casino gambling. Online casinos in Europe have been waiting years for a level market with equal opportunities within all EU member-states and the wait could be a whole lot longer.

Sweden is a prime example of a situation where the ECoJ did not rule that the online casino monopoly in the country was legal but did give credibility to the monopoly by noting that the Swedish newspapers and the government has the right to block adverts from foreign sites that are not licensed to operate in Sweden. There was no mention of the legality of the monopoly, or even a ruling about the fact that there are no foreign sites able to be licensed in Sweden, just a specific ruling on the issue at hand that seems to lend credibility to the monopolies by ruing that foreign gaming sites do not legally have the right to advertise in other nations just because they are an EU business.