Six years after the US Supreme Court’s landmark judgement, allowing for a state regulation of online and land-based gambling, the US betting and gambling market keeps growing.

After the ECJ's decision in case C-46/08 Carmen Media, the German gambling monopoly has come to an end. In its decision given today, the ECJ makes it clear that the Verwaltungsgericht (Administrative Court) of Schleswig, in its resolution of 30 January 2008 referring the case for a preliminary ruling, correctly reached the conclusion that the German gambling regulation is not in compliance with Union law (see press release dated 31 January 2008).

Austrian legislation establishes a State monopoly over games of chance, with the effect that the right to organise and operate games of chance is, in principle, reserved to the State. The federal law in force is intended, in particular, to regulate games of chance with a view to their supervision and to enable the State to derive the maximum amount of revenue from them. The Federal Minister for Finance is permitted to grant a total of 12 concessions entitling their holders to organise and operate gaming establishments.

In Germany, jurisdiction over gambling is divided between the federal State and the Länder. In most of the Länder, there is a regional monopoly for the organisation of sporting bets and lotteries, while the organisation of bets on horse racing and the operation of gaming machines and casinos are entrusted to duly-authorised private operators.

During the last few days, the former judge at the Federal Constitutional Court, Professor Dr. Paul Kirchhof said the following in a newspaper interview about the causes of the financial crisis. “Investors and asset managers no longer bet on interests and dividends, but on gambling and chance”. And what about the state?

The Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya) has filed appeals to the Supreme Court (sp. Tribunal Supremo (TS)) against two judgments of the High Court of Catalonia (sp. TSJC), which nullified two decrees in the field of gaming adopted by the government headed by Pasqual Maragall (former President of Catalonia).