The Placanica decision (Joined Cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C-360/04), pronounced by the Grand Chamber of European Court of Justice (ECJ) on 6 March 2007, will inevitably liberalise the European Union's sports betting market. The internal market cross-border provision of sporting bets (that is from one EU Member State to another) must not be criminally sanctioned by the receiving state. Thus the betting monopoly in Germany can not be upheld anymore, since the transfer of sporting bets to other EU Member States must not be prohibited anymore.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is going to pronounce its long-awaited decision in the joined cases Placanica et al. (Cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C-360/04) on Tuesday, 6 March 2007, at 9:30 a.m. The operators and agents affected as well as numerous courts expect a further clarification of the legal situation with regards to the cross-border provision of sports betting. As for the Gambelli and the Zanetti decisions, the facts of this decision are based on criminal proceedings against betting agents having transferred contracts for sporting bets from Italy to a British bookmaker, in this case, Stanley International Betting Ltd.

Several follow-up decisions to the ECJ’s Gambelli decision, a fundamental decision on the freedom to provide services with regard to sports betting, are at hand. As reported, the ECJ will probably pronounce its judgement in the joined cases of Placanica et. al. (Cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C-360/04) in the course of this year. If the Court follows the Advocate General’s opinion on these three Italian cases, delivered on 16 May 2006, this would mean the factual end of the state monopoly on sports betting and games of chance in Germany.