Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 06/03/2010

Subject: The Court ruling on the freedom to provide services affirmed that the EU law does not preclude legislation of a Member State, such as the legislation at issue in the main proceedings, under which exclusive rights to organise and promote games of chance are conferred on a single operator, and which prohibits any other operator, including an operator established in another Member State, from offering via the internet services within the scope of that regime in the territory of the first Member State. However, it is for the national court to determine whether unlawful gaming activities constitute a problem in the Member State concerned which might be solved by the expansion of authorised and regulated activities, and whether that expansion is on such a scale as to make it impossible to reconcile with the objective of curbing addiction to games of chance and of combating fraud.

Parties: Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Ltd, Ladbrokes International Ltd

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 15 Freedom to provide services

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