ECJ rules that European countries can ban online casinos

Just when the EU seemed to be getting its act together on allowing online casino operators that are licensed in one EU country to operate all over Europe thus competing with state owned monopolies such as in the Netherlands the ECJ in Luxembourg has ruled that European countries can ban online casinos. The argument revolves around the fact that Ladbrokes were refused a license to operate in the Netherlands despite the fact that similar license were issued to two other Dutch companies; the case has been with the European court since 2008. The ECJ now says “Such a restriction may be justified, in particular, by the objectives of consumer protection and the prevention of both fraud and incitement to squander money on gambling, as well as the need to preserve public order” which of course frees the way for other countries to follow their lead. At onlinecasino.ie we doubt that the Irish Government is ready to ban casinos online but it could try once again to restrict licenses to those online casino companies who are willing to pay tax in the country which is an issue we have reported on before. A small proviso was put on the Dutch Government by stating that decisions needed to be justified but then again the ECJ stated that “a policy of controlled expansion in the betting and gaming industry may be entirely consistent with the objective of drawing players away from clandestine betting and gaming”. At www.onlinecasino.ie we do not operate an online casino in the Netherlands or anywhere else for that matter so we are unaffected but it seems illogical that state monopolies can continue to exist in this world of so called free trade. It will be interesting to see whether the State Monopoly there offers the same variety of casino games including of course free online casino. In the UK and Ireland nothing is likely to change so continue to play your casino games at the online casino of your choice.