Romania to promulgate the on-line gaming bill. Online operations not authorized in Romania illegal.

On November 16, the project of the law on the organization and operation of gambling games for the first time regulating online gaming and betting and declaring illegal and punishing online operations not authorized in Romania has been approved by the Chamber of Deputies (decisional chamber) with 171 votes pro, 1 against and 4 abstentious (176 MP’s present), following a tacit approval by the Senate on the 19th of October. On November 24, the law has been sent to the Romanian Presidency for promulgation. Promulgation is expected any day now.
As forecasted, the law has been approved with very few changes in respect of the criticism of the EC. To the point, the concessions made concern: … Continue Reading

New Government Spells Overnight Change For Dutch Gambling

Interview with Justin Franssen, co-founder of gaminglaw.eu.

… Continue Reading

Event: «Business de la toile ». Opportunités et perspectives / 7th December 2010

EIG-European iGaming Congress & Expo 19.10.2010 – 21.10.2010

EIG-European iGaming Congress & Expo

19.10.2010 – 21.10.2010

Bella Centre

Copenhagen

Denmark

Organizer: Clarion Gaming www.eigexpo.com … Continue Reading

ECJ judgment in the Betfair and Ladbrokes cases: new exception to the applicability of the transparency principle in the gaming sector?

By Justin Franssen, attorney at law, and Frank Tolboom, legal assistant, VMW Taxand, Netherlands, article first published in European Gaming Lawyer magazine, Autumn issue 2010 p. 30 – 32.

On June 3, 2010, the ECJ rendered preliminary rulings in the Dutch betting cases Betfair/Minister of Justice (C-203/08) and Ladbrokes/De Lotto (C-258/08) addressing the compatibility of the Dutch gambling legislation with key principles of EU law.

As generally anticipated, the rulings seek alignment with the Bwin/Santa Casa case: member states have a significant margin of discretion with which to define the requisite level of protection and may therefore opt for a single-licence system, provided that the ensuing restrictive measures are objective, non-discriminatory and proportional. … Continue Reading