i-Gaming Global Legal Update Italy

The Italian approach to i-Gaming – Historical background and current landscape

Over the last four years Italy stood out as the pioneer, champion and leader of a new regulatory approach to remote gaming that eventually became a reference model in Europe for those jurisdictions (like France and Denmark) willing to open up the respective gaming markets without however giving up their ruling powers in crucial areas like licensing, compliance and taxation.
Although traditionally Italy has a very solid track record of slow-paced and highly controversial decisions whenever it comes to introducing unprecedented reforms in any business sector, it must be acknowledged that in the case of gaming things happened fairly quickly and smoothly.  Indeed the three triggers of the Italian landmark reform of remote gaming were: (i) a mounting political pressure from the Brussels authorities on Italy for its heavily monopoly-driven legislation which resulted in several infringement proceedings being launched against Rome, (ii) the consistent jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice in various cases involving local agents of a Liverpool-based bookmaker who accepted bets in Italy that were then sent and remotely processed in England via a data transmission system without however holding a betting licence granted by the Italian gaming authority (see in re Gambelli, in re Placanica), and last but not least, (iii) the large Treasury budget deficit that early in late June 2006 induced the then Prodi-led cabinet to pass overnight emergency legislation aimed at feeding the Italian state’s coffins with new sources of tax revenue to be generated from the partial liberalisation of the domestic gaming market and the simultaneous launch of a fresh licence tender contemplating for the first time ever the award of pure remote gaming licences.  On 2 August 2006 the governmental decree (soon re-branded “Bersani Decree” after the name of the then Minister of Industry) was converted into law by the parliament.
The main features of the landmark 2006 reform can be summarised as follows. … Continue Reading

xThe Interface Between Ex Ante Online Gambling Sector-Specific Regulation And Ex Post Competition Rules: Legal Analysis Of The French Model

In spite of the criticism expressed regarding the application of the Law 2010-476 of May 12, 2010 on the Opening Up To Competition And Regulation Of The French Online Gambling Market (hereinafter referred to as the “Gaming Law”), one may contend that the French Government has attained its goal of fighting against money laundering, gambling addiction and unlawful online gaming offer. It took only few weeks for the newly-created National Regulatory Authority entrusted with the task of regulating the online gaming market in France (hereinafter referred to as the “ARJEL”) to show its effectiveness in the smooth enforcement of both the Gaming Law … Continue Reading

Spain: first guidelines about the future of online regulation

By Santiago Asensi of Asensi Abogados, article published first in European Gaming Lawyer magazine, Autumn issue 2010.

After almost three years since the Ley 56/07 de Madidas de Impulso de la Sociead de la Información – Law on Measures to Develop the Information Society – saw the light, establishing the six principles that will govern the future of online gaming regulation, Spain continues to be „lost in translation“ with regard to this gaming sector.

On several occasions in the last few months, there have been rumours saying that the first draft on online gaming was about to be circulated. Some even said that the law was going to be enacted before the FIFA World Cup, in order to benefit the sector. However, the reality is that our administration is not progressing at all on this matter. … 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

ECJ judgment in Carmen Media case causes legal chaos in Germany

Article by Dr. Wulf Hambach commissioned for and published in European Gaming Lawyer magazine, Autumn issue 2010.

The ECJ’s judgments on the Carmen Media case on September 8 have plunged the German gambling market into legal chaos, as they found that Germany’s regulations did not limit games of chance in a consistent and systematic manner.

The press coverage of the decision was widespread in Germany. The media suggested that the “end of the German gambling monopoly” seems to be inevitable. Examples of headlines and statements of the German press and media were…

“The German monopoly on lotteries and sports betting and other games of chances is inapplicable with immediate effect.” (Tagesspiegel, September 8, 2010).

“Sport betting is now allowed in Germany.” (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, September 9, 2010).

“The European Court of Justice stops the hypocrisy.” (Die Welt, September 9, 2010). “The Germany monopoly on gambling is illegitimate and – even transitionally – not applicable.” (Tagesspiegel, September 9, 2010).

… Continue Reading