Pushed by the European Commission and the European Court of Justice, on the one hand, and the need for additional revenue on the other, members of the European Union are slowly moving towards liberalizing their state monopolies in gambling. The latest news comes from Bulgaria. Their coalition government has decided to amend their laws to allow online gambling. The main motivation seems to be the prospect of more revenue of the state lottery to be invested in social activities. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=90280

A few days earlier, an Austrian court of appeal in Vienna ruled that the Austrian government must allow operation of gambling licenseholders from other EU states in Austria.

The Administrative Court of Schleswig of the German State, Schleswig-Holstein, has doubts about the conformity of the German Interstate Treaty on Gambling with EU law. In consequence thereof, they have referred a case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the state monopoly on sports betting and gambling .

As already reported in this forum, the European Commission has already started an infringement proceeding against Germany and Sweden because of their state monopoly laws.

The Dutch Justice Minister stopped a Senate vote on granting an online gaming licence to a casino because he didn't want to risk that the Senate rejects the proposal, and in consequence thereof, the European Commission includes the Dutch in the infringement proceeding against Germany and Sweden.

So a lot has happened since beginning of this year in Europe. The coming months will definitely bring more interesting news for us.

Nandakishore
Online Casino Newsroom