Italy Cannot Block Online Gambling, Says EU Court

MaltaToday reported this week that a preliminary ruling in the case of Biasci et al against Italy in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has confirmed once more that the EU’s principles of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services also apply to cross-border gambling.

Two of the cases in question concern access of operators established outside of Italy, such as online gaming companies based in Malta, and Italian licenses to offer gaming services to its citizens.

The CJEU ruling states:

“It is against EU law for Member States to restrict national gambling markets in order to favor the economic interest of incumbents over operators licensed in other Member States.  National legislation which precludes all cross-border activity in the betting and gaming sector, irrespective of the form in which that activity is undertaken, is contrary to EU law.”

The ruling continues:

“Articles 43 EC and 49 EC must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which requires companies wishing to pursue activities linked to gaming and betting to obtain a police authorization in addition to a license issued by the State in order to pursue such activities and which restricts the grant of such authorization inter alia to applicants who already hold such a license.”

Additionally, the CJEU reiterated the judgement of Placanica and Others, saying that no sanctions may be applied on the basis of provisions which are contrary to EU law.

In ’06, Italian authorities blacklisted the Lotteries and Gaming Authority’s official website after it had done the same to more than 600 Maltese registered sites.

Claiming it was protecting its citizens from “phishing scams”, the Italian government then blocked all foreign gaming sites from UK to Malta.

Critics say that Italy was just protecting its own €2 billion gambling monopoly, that belongs to the state with only a few authorized private partners.  Internet providers in Italy face a €180,000 per day fine each time a bet with a company on the blacklist is allowed.