In addition to the references of two Dutch supreme courts (cf. German Gaming Law updated, no. 106 and 107), the French Council of State (Conseil d’État), in its capacity as France’s supreme administrative court, has referred questions regarding the compatibility of a betting monopoly with Community law to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for preliminary ruling (order of 9 May 2008, decision no. 287503). The proceedings were initiated by the Malta based bookmaker ZETurf (Zeturf Limited)...

The Netherland High Court (Hoge Raad der Nederlanden), the highest Dutch court for civil- and penal cases referred a case regarding the cross-border offer of sports bets for preliminary ruling. The referral is based on proceedings between the private bookmaker Ladbrokes and the Dutch gambling monopoly operator De Lotto. In 2002 Ladbrokes was restricted from accepting sports bets form Dutch citizens. The High Court (Hoge Raad) referred three questions to the ECJ:

Forsa research organization recently released a new report that shows how the online gaming industry has grown in Germany. According to the study, the numbers of Germans regularly gambling online has reached 2.2 million. The German group’s findings were released in its German Betting Market In Transition study, which reported that over 700,000 people access the lottery over the Internet while around 430,000 play online poker.

Betting group Paddy Power has confirmed it will examine the possibility of entering the casino market in Ireland once the Government publishes long-awaited legislation to revamp existing laws governing the sector. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has signalled that he will soon move to introduce new laws, describing the current rules that have enabled private member clubs to operate as casinos as "way past their sell-by date".

Online betting is banned in the City of Buenos Aires, because the Contraventional Code of the City punishes illegal gaming and its coverage, but the Mayor of the City, Mauricio Macri, analyzes to modify the law and call to a tender process to operate the business. In Argentina there is a legal void, because there isn’t a law on the matter and is just regulated by regional laws.

Wenn Poker ein Glücksspiel ist, dann scheint Theo Tran derzeit mit Glück nur so zugeschüttet zu werden. Der 23-jährige Profi hat bei dieser WSOP bereits zwei Finaltische erreicht und jeweils auf Platz vier abgeschlossen (Event #2 mit 3.929 Teilnehmern und Event #7 mit 1.592). Am Sonnabend startete ein weiterer No-Limit-Hold'em-Event und das Buy-in von USD 2.500 wurde von 1.397 Pokerspielern bezahlt.

Australian gaming giant Tabcorp Holdings has lodged an application with the Northern Territory State Government for a racing and sports wagering license, signaling a desire to compete in the fast growing corporate bookmaking market. The license application forms a key part of Tabcorp’s response to competition changes in the Australian wagering market.

Mr Sarkozy declared it publicly a few weeks ago: France will open its online gaming market. The process has thus now become irreversible. At the beginning of this month, the report issued by Mr. Bruno Durieux on the opening of the French online gaming market was given to the Prime Minister, Mr. François Fillon, and to the ministry of budget, Mr. Woerth. The President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, is due to “validate” it in a near future.

Plans for punters to place bets from home using their TVs and remote controls are headed for a parliamentary showdown. The Federal Opposition will today announce plans to introduce legislation to block a move by Tabcorp and Foxtel to enable gambling via the Sky Racing Channel. Under the controversial proposal, Tabcorp account holders will be free to gamble on all thoroughbred, harness and greyhound races with their remote controls.

In a new decision, the Bavarian Administrative Court of Munich (Verwaltungsgericht München) granted a sports betting agent relief from judicial execution of a prohibition order issued by the city of Munich (decision of 7 April 2008, file-no. M 16 08.851). The sports betting agent, who’s case was pleaded by Arendts Anwälte law firm (www.wettrecht.de), can thus keep operating his business and transferring sports bets to a privately owned and state licensed bookmaker in the EU. The Administrative Court of Munich has thus changed its previous line of reasoning, after having refused to grant relief from judicial execution in similar cases in recent years.

Munich, 20 Mar. 2008: In a case represented by the law firm Hambach & Hambach, the Higher Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg (VGH) allowed an appeal against a dismissive judgement by the Administrative Court (VG) of Karlsruhe. Just as in the previous resolution dated 12 Feb. 2008, leave to appeal was also granted in these parallel proceedings in a resolution dated 3 Mar. 2008 (ref: 6 S 1408/07), due to substantial doubts as to whether politics regulating games of chance in Germany are implemented in a consistent way.

Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG said it lost a bid to have Germany's highest civil court halt the enforcement of a ruling barring it from offering sport bets and casino games in Germany over its www.bwin.com Web site. Bwin had asked the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany, to halt enforcement of a September court ruling against the online broker while Bwin appeals, the Vienna-based company said in a statement. The shares fell 7.1 percent.