Greek betting monopoly operator OPAP has dismissed reports that it is considering acquiring a stake in Spanish gaming group Codere from the Martinez Sampedro family, but reaffirmed its determination to expand geographically beyond its home market. In a filing with the Athens Stock Exchange, OPAP said its goal was to become a leading operator in the international gaming market, reducing its dependence on the current concession with the Greek state.

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 Administrative Court of Berlin (Verwaltungsgericht Berlin) had already voiced fundamental doubts regarding the constitutionality of the Interstate Treaty on Gambling in several summary proceedings during the last months and has thus granted relief from judicial execution to the sports betting agents involved (cf. German Gaming Law updated No. 102). The Administrative Court of Berlin has now repealed a prohibition order issued by the State Office for Citizens’ and Police Affairs (Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten), holding it to be unlawful (decision of 7 July 2008, file no. VG 35 A 167.08).

In four judgments rendered in main proceedings, the 1st chamber of the Administrative Court of Freiburg (Verwaltungsgericht Freiburg) just recently declared the state sports betting monopoly to be in breach of Community law and revoked prohibition orders issued by the Regional Council of Karlsruhe (decisions of 16 April 2008, file-no. K 2683/07, 1 K 2063/06, 1 K 2066/06 and 1 K 2052/06). The 3rd chamber of the Administrative Court of Freiburg has now joined this legal opinion in summary proceedings.

In addition to the Dutch reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in the case of Ladbrokes (cf. German Gaming Law updated no. 106), the Raad van State, in its capacity as the highest administrative court of the Netherlands, has referred a case to Luxembourg (decision of 14 May 2008, file-no. 200700622/1). This reference has been filed with the ECJ as Case C-203/08. The referral is based on administrative proceedings between the world’s largest betting exchange Betfair (Sporting Exchange Ltd.) and the Dutch Minister of Justice.

Wettbewerbszentrale (Centre for Protection against Unfair Competition) recently won a court suit in the second instance against the Free State of Bavaria who offers sports betting and games of chance commercially via its State Lottery Administration (Staatliche Lotterieverwaltung), which is a member of Deutscher Lotto- und Totoblock, the cartel of the monopoly operators. The Court of Appeal of Munich (Oberlandesgericht München) enjoined the Free State of Bavaria from unfair advertisements with regard to three different circumstances.

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:

After the Austrian regional court of Linz's reference for preliminary ruling regarding the monopoly on casinos other proceedings regarding the licensing procedure for casinos have just recently been referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for preliminary ruling, this time from Greece (Case C-145/08 -- "Club Hotel Loutraki"). The reference for preliminary ruling by the Symvoulio tis Epikrateias involves the question whether Community procurement law...

After numerous decisions on sports betting the European Court of Justice may now deal with the admissibility of a casino monopoly. The Austrian County Court of Linz (Landesgericht Linz) recently referred several fundamental questions for preliminary ruling to the ECJ (Case no. C-64/08 - Engelmann). The ECJ's decision could well throw into disarray the current licensing system for casinos in Austria and could be of fundamental importance for other Member States as well. The County Court of Linz referred the following questions for preliminary ruling:

The press representative for the Sächsische LOTTO-GmbH thinks “…that the new State Treaty will not lead to an extension of the black market, as gambling is not prohibited but only shaped and designed in a diminishing way…” In this context, it must be added critically that in particular the assumption that state-run lottery draws will cover the whole area of gambling is incorrect and that this assumption is not justified or based on any evidence!

Sweden’s state-owned gambling monopoly faces an unprecedented challenge this week that could open up the Nordic country’s lucrative betting industry to international competition. Swedish online gambling company Betsson will open a high street betting shop in Stockholm on Friday, deliberately breaching laws which state all bookmakers must be run by Svenska Spel, the state monopoly.

As well as creating a new temporary exclusive licence for state-owned operator Holland Casino, a proposed Online Gaming Act also suggested that the Ministry of Justice is to target financial institutions dealing with unlicensed remote gambling operators. Justin Franssen and Aernout Kraaijeveld, of Van Mens & Wisselink, explain how although the Ministry's initial proposals have been watered down, the proposed Act still fails to justify its restriction on the freedom to provide services. In the political debate on the proposed Online Gaming Act, which creates a new exclusive temporary licence for remote gaming for Dutch state-owned casino monopolist Holland Casino, the enforcement of the prohibition of remote gaming is brought into focus.