ECJ court is against the German restrictions on online gambling operators

The European Court Of Justice, based in Luxembourg, ruled out on September 8th 2010 that the prohibition on private online gambling offers is not accepted in European Union jurisdiction.

For the past year, Carmen Media Group, Happybet Sportwetten and Digibet three major online gambling operators, brought often this issue in several German courts. In a response to those legal disputes, this issue was brought this time in the European Court of Justice. In this judgment, the European Court of Justice said that the government of Germany is not consistent in its way to limit the online gambling activity. Although the European Court of Justice recognize the right for a Member State to enforce restrictions on the online gambling industry, when they are set for public safety and for fighting against gambling addiction.

The State Treaty on Gambling in Germany (GlüStV), started in January 1st 2008, restricts all operators of the online gambling industry to provide their online services. This Treaty will end up on January 1st 2012.

The goal of this Treaty is also to protect minors and players, to limit gambling frauds and to prevent criminality living from the gambling industry.

German technical experts often pointed out that this Treaty is technically hard to implement, since it is hard to entirely block access to an offshore web site.

Last year this Treaty was challenged in court by online gambling organizations. The Lander in Germany named Schleswig-Holstein rejected the application of Carmen Media Group to provide online sports gambling in Germany. But in November the Lander administration wanted to start gambling licenses that could set rules on different states, though asked to cancel the GlüStV Treaty.

Carmen Media Group has its headquarters in Gibraltar and owns online casinos such as Lucky Nugget, received their license for organizing bets on sports games.

In its judgement, the European Court Of Justice ruled out that the state monopoly for online gambling could not be justified to avoid public gambling dependence, since the German government is publishing massive promotions for the government gambling web site in order to increase benefits, and even promoting casino games and slots games which are not in the scope of the state monopoly.

Also the European Court Of Justice ruled out that Member's governments can impose monopoly on online gambling when it is aimed to limit the addiction of gambling, since it can be more efficient than a private auto-regulated market of online gambling operators.

The European Court of Justice also recalls that European legislations allow a European State to deny a license that is valid in another State.

Now the German government is expected to reconsider the promotions for the state online gambling offers, and the cases will go back to local courts in Germany.

German players should follow this issue, because more online gambling offers could appear on internet in the Germany in the future.