Bwin loses court battle against Portugals gambling monopoly

Just when it looked like Governments around the EU were coming into some form of agreement to allow cross border online gaming in a regulated way, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) based in Luxembourg came down in favour of Santa Casa the Portuguese state owned monopoly. This decision also seems to fly in the face of the European Commission who have already threatened to sue several countries including France, Germany and The Netherlands for protecting domestic monopolies. The affair started after BAW International Ltd, a Gibraltar based subsidiary of Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG signed a sponsorship deal with Portugal’s football league, Liga Portugeusa de Futebol. The deal would enable bwin to advertise on players shirts, in the stadiums and on the league’s website. Santa Casa claimed that this deal infringed its monopoly and it ended up in the ECJ. Bwin and the Liga claimed that this monopoly violated EU rules that allow free trade in any of the EU countries and the Portugese government claimed that the monopoly was necessary to prevent fraud and addiction. The ECJ said “The fight against crime relied on by Portugal may constitute an overriding reason relating to the public interest that is capable of justifying restrictions”. It also stated that the lack of harmonized rules on games of chanceleft the countries free to set their own policies as long as they meet certain conditions.

Ladbrokes who themselves are in dispute with the Netherlands said the ruling “is far from a blanket acceptance of monopoly restrictions” and went on that they would “challenge disproportionate, discriminatory and unjustified laws”.

Bwin was disappointed that the court failed to recognize that commercial operators such as themselves were just as able to combat fraud and take measures against addiction as state monopolies.

It is unlikely that we have heard the last of this.