European Government Investigates Anti-Gambling ‘Discrimination’

The surprise policy move came after the arrest in France the other week of executives from the Bwin Internet Gambling Group over alleged violation of French gambling laws. The gambling business is controlled, strictly, by the Socialist government there, which doles out monopoly licenses to favored firms.
 
The Bwin gambling group said this weekend that it is suing the French government for “human rights violations” and for not respecting European law.
 

Infringement Investigation

 
"We will perhaps add to the number of countries involved in infringement procedures," said Oliver Drewes, an EU spokesman, during a meeting of the European Commission on October 18 dedicated to the issue.
 
Earlier this year, the commission, which serves as the executive branch of the European Union government, targeted seven member states whose restrictions on gambling it was examining in the sports sector, including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
 
Charles McCreevy, the EU’s internal market commissioner, wants to make sure that legislation in member states which bans gambling services are "necessary and not discriminatory.”
 
The EU is not seeking total liberalization of the market but, wants "to be assured that the measures put in place by the member states are fully compatible with community law, on the freedom of sale of services, said McCreevy.
 
The commission, which is also the EU's regulator of cross-border commerce, has received an array of complaints, including about 100 which are potentially actionable, in recent months, about discriminatory treatment by government bodies against foreign firms, said Drewes.
 
In France, the sports gambling and lottery monopolies are held by Francaise des Jeux and PMU.
 
The French police last week arrested two Austrian gambling executives on trumped up charges of violating local gambling laws.
 

German Hassles

 
Bwin’s co-chief executives, Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner, were arrested and booked, in something of a surrealistic event, just seconds before they were to give a news conference regarding the sponsorship of the Monaco football club.
 
The bizarre news came on the same day that the German state of Bavaria “banned” Bwin from taking bets on sports, the third German state government to do so. Betting is a state monopoly in France, and Germany, and international online gambling firms are said to be banned from seeking customers there.
 
Just over a week ago, in the U.S., Peter Dicks, the-then Sportingbet.com chairman, on a warrant issued by Louisiana state police, was arrested and booked. He is awaiting extradition. The British executive has severed ties with his employer.
 
The Bwin firm alerted the Austrian stock market, Wiener Börse, where its shares float, just after the arrests, and officials there stopped trading in Bwin's stock, hoping to prevent investor losses. The shares were listed at €25.65, or $32.43, down just five euro cents for the day.
 
With trading in Bwin stock suspended, other online gambling stocks slumped, but just for the day in London, For example, Sportingbet.com closed 20 pence lower at 172 pence, or $3.23. 
 
This too may be probed by the European Commission – as the arrests may be a form of unfair business practices designed solely to hassle competition in the Internet gambling market.


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