Gambelli

The ECJ Gambelli ruling Case C-243/01 - November 2003

On 6 November 2003, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) released its long awaited judgement in Case C243/01 Gambelli. The judgement, which upholds the opinion submitted by Advocate General Alber on 13 March 2003, departed dramatically from the established restrictive history within the European Union on gaming and betting services, and has had far-reaching consequences for sports betting in the EU.

The ECJ held that the Italian legislation - which punishes, as a criminal offence, all behaviours of collection, acceptance, booking and forwarding of sports bet proposals within or from Italy, except in the presence of a licence or authorisation issued by the authorities - is contrary to Articles 43 and 49 of the EC Treaty.

The Gambelli case was referred to the ECJ by an Italian court following a criminal action brought against a number of agents affiliated to Stanleybet International. The Court stated that “where a company established in a Member State (such as Stanley) pursues the activity of collecting bets through the intermediary of an organisation of agencies established in another Member State (such as the defendants in the main proceedings), any restrictions on the activities of those agencies constitute obstacles to the freedom of establishment”.

The Court added that “a prohibition, enforced by criminal penalties, on participating in betting games organised in Member States other than in the country where the bettor is established constitutes a restriction on the freedom to provide services”.

The Gambelli decision made it clear that restricting gambling activities to state-licensed undertakings is unlawful if such a decision is based on purely financial grounds. Restrictions can only be justified on public policy grounds if there is an overriding public interest: any restrictions need to be justified, proportionate and applied in a consistent manner.

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