Legal History

The right to provide sports betting services across Europe is enshrined in EU law: Article 43 and Article 49 of the EC Treaty are the two key legal milestones in that respect. We have been leading in the legal battle against sports betting restrictions that are incompatible with European Union law since the landmark Gambelli (2003) and Placanica (2007) European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings, to which we were the principal party.

With Gambelli, for the first time, the ECJ clearly recognised the right of a sports betting operator legally established in one member state to offer these services in another member state.

The Placanica ruling reiterated that legislation on sports betting must not contain provisions which ‘constitute a restriction on the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services, provided for in Articles 43 EC and Articles 49 EC respectively.’

The Court also explicitly acknowledged that the freedom to provide services, as enshrined in Article 49 of the EC Treaty, involves a dual right: the right of an operator to provide their services but also the right of consumers to benefit from a choice between different services being offered. At a time when a strong consensus exists on the huge benefits that the single market has brought to European citizens, securing choice of high quality services, best value and product innovation in the sports betting market is long overdue.

The ECJ has also confirmed that any restrictions which seek to protect general-interest objectives, such as the protection of consumers, must be 'consistent and systematic' in how they seek to limit activities. Therefore, a member state cannot invoke the need to restrict citizens' access to gambling services if at the same time it encourages them to participate in state games of chance or betting offered by national operators or a monopoly.

Following these ECJ judgments, and as a direct result of numerous complaints by private sports betting operators, the European Commission launched a number of infringement proceedings against 10 Member States (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden). Stanleybet International expects the European Commission to move swiftly to pursue these and so achieve a properly functioning internal market in sports betting across all 27 member states for the benefit of European consumers.