6 2 February 2007

News:

A senior US Democrat politician is examining options for raising money from online gaming, through regulating and taxing the industry.

The European Court of Justice's judgment in 'Placanica' (joined cases C-338/04, C-359/04 and C360/04), emphasised its position in 'Gambelli', that a Member State expanding gambling activity cannot restrict the number of licensed operators, as this constitutes a restriction on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services (Articles 43, 49 EC).

The European Free Trade Association's (EFTA) Court has allowed the Kingdom of Norway to continue Norsk Tipping AS' monopoly on the operation of gaming machines, underlining that state gambling monopolies can still be permissible under EU law.

Features:

Discussion of the regulation and taxation of online gambling by a senior US Democrat politician has generated a ripple of excitement which provided a quick boost to remote gambling share prices.

The European Court of Justice's 6 March judgment on the 'Placanica' case was eagerly awaited by the online gambling sector, as clarifying the extent to which state gambling monopolies could justify restrictions on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services, two key Community principles. Geoff Nicholas and Patrick Doris, of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, explain that while the ECJ's judgment did not outlaw these restrictions, as some had hoped, it does mark a shift in the balance in favour of the private gambling industry and away from state monopolies.

The UK government has recently published guidance explaining the criteria by which jurisdictions will be assessed to join its remote gambling 'white list', which allows operators from those jurisdictions to lawfully advertise in the UK. With a 2 April 2007 deadline looming for applications, Nick Nocton, a partner at Jeffrey Green Russell, examines the guidance criteria by which jurisdictions will be assessed.

Legislators in the US and Europe that are keen to restrict access to online gambling sites based overseas have targeted payment transactions as being an easy way to block access to those operators. The Remote Gambling Association commissioned Hambach & Hambach LLP to look into the issue of financial transaction blocking and in this article, Dr. Hendrik Schöttle summarises the findings, explaining enforcement difficulties that could occur with transaction blocking.

The UK Gambling Commission has launched an industry consultation on the technical standards it aims to apply to operators, software suppliers and software providers operating from the UK. Carl Rohsler, a partner at Hammonds, sets out the issues covered by the consultation.

From 1 July 2009, gambling will be restricted to four designated zones across the Russian Federation, chosen by the Kremlin, after Russia's first federal law regarding betting and gaming came into force on 1 January 2007. Lana Haworth, a non-practising barrister, explains how the law will impact both land-based and online gambling operators.