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Beacause there are many friends here that may not understand EU rules, I will try to give a short explanation.
Bwin claims because it has a gambling licence in Gibraltar, it can operate throughout Europe under EU law. Because the freedom of services is a basic foundation of the European Union, Bwin is pushing the argument of free trade.
The EU has laws regarding competition that clearly state that if there is a company operating in one country, all other companies can do the same. In other words there is no room for monopolies. European governements run country loteries and similar games, like “Euro Milhões”, and don’t have any competition because in most of the country legislation it is stated that it is ilegal.(although mostly not a crime punished with prison).
EU legislation gives some exceptions on the free trade rule, allowing the permanence of a monopoly if public interests exist. Issues like addictive problems of gambling, and other moral grounds could be on that exception.
BUT,
All countries across Europe ACTIVELY advertise on media their monopoly games. And they have profit grouth rates of 2 digits every year. This means that they can’t block companies like bwin to operate based on moral grounds. They are incentivizing gambling.
Michael Ziegle, spokesman for the Minister of Interior in Germany recently stated that “we want to keep our monopoly…..it is required to protect citizens” and the banning of BWIN on Germany was due to “gambling addictions”. He also spoke about “lost tax revenues”.
All arguments are not compatible with EU rules. If they advertise actively they cannot keep monopoly on moral grounds, so there is no exception on EU rule here. “Lost tax revenues” has you may know is also not compatible.
EU was trying to keep things out of attention allowing the monopolies and bwin and others to operate. But because of the atitudes of France and German they have put more than 8 EU countries under investigation of monopoly abuse. France and Germany have basically antecipated what will be a total liberalisation of the gambling market in Europe, starting right now with some steps taken in Italy.
Hope it helps.
Well done Filipe!!
:hattip:Very interesting to watch!
Thanks for the information, it’s the first time I hear from it!
Quote:they have put more than 8 EU countries under investigation of monopoly abuse.Do you happen to know which countries these are?
From April this year the following countries were under investigation by the European Commission:
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands
Now, at least France and Portugal were added to the list.
If it happens that EU takes a position forcing these countries to end with their monopolies we have to thank bwin.
Please note that what is at stake on EU is not online gambling but gambling by private companies. EU would never make a distinction between online gambling and the offline version like in the US. If there are private companies operating offline, no one would block online companies of doing the same. That kind of proteccionism is not allowed.
So refreshing to hear all that logic, I just LOVE the European Union.
Hopefully european media will continue to focus on the national (state) level, so the European Union and her policies can continue to stay under the radar (read: based on economic sense and not public opinion).
you returned from the far east PJ?
if so, welcome back, loli hope EU will handle this on EU level and not state level
might take a few years thoughHi Elgoog,
nope still in the far east for entire 2006, I like it here!
I interviewed a CEO of a floor factory on my Shanghai trip, this guy went from scratch to USD 30 million yearly revenue in just 3 years! I know where I will use my affiliate revenue for when I graduate!
2 nice quotes:
– from the chief marketing of the floor factory: “The real communists live in Belgium.” (To be generalised for the entire west IMHO)
– as seen at the entrance of my exchange university: “Not failure, but low aim, is crime.”Anyway, the world will be amazed in 2008 (Olympics) and by 2010 (World Expo), China is going to take over. (IMO)
elgoog wrote:i hope EU will handle this on EU level and not state level
might take a few years thoughWith recent developments in France arresting 2 bwin execs, it was considered an abuse. EU schedule a faster investigation. Bwin is also putting pressure on it. Let’s wait and see.
Recent developments in Italy demonstrate a move into opening the market for gambling.
The constitutional court (surpreme court equivalent) in Germany ruled that the state government can only retain their gambling monopoly if they accept their responsibility to minimise gambling adiction.
This has been in line with EU rulings so far.
Goldfinger wrote:The constitutional court (surpreme court equivalent) in Germany ruled that the state government can only retain their gambling monopoly if they accept their responsibility to minimise gambling adiction.This has been in line with EU rulings so far.
But as you may know with the introduction Of Euro Millions game most monopolies are advertising too much on media, what is inconsistent with moral issues that are being pushed up to maintain monopolies. At the same time they are showing growth rates of 2 digits what is also inconsistent with that.
Euro millions doesn´t run in Germany. That was the exact point of the constitutional court – if the monopolies want to shut down the private firms they need to scale back their advertisement themselves and commit to preventing gambling addiction.
Well but that is not the general case around Europe. In France they advertise hard, for example.
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – The European Commission said Thursday it has begun investigating three more European Union member nations to see if they are restricting access to their gambling and online sports betting markets.
The EU’s executive office said it is seeking information from France and Italy on sports and online betting and from Austria on the casino industry. Those investigations are in addition to probes of a half-dozen other nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, that it began in April.
“I have made no secret of the fact that I intend to pursue these inquiries,” said EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
In France last month, two executives of the Austrian online company BWIN were jailed for three days for allegedly breaking French gambling laws by moving into the national market. The move highlighted the dispute between online and national betting monopolies in Europe.
“I also have concerns about the legal uncertainty suffered by sport betting operators and related stakeholders,” McCreevy said in a statement.
Many of the 25 EU nations have state-owned companies that dominate national markets and want to protect their interests. There is free movement across the EU for services, but restrictions can be applied if they protect a general interest and are applied consistently.
The European Betting Association said, however, that the market must fundamentally change.
BWIN co-chief executives Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger have said they plan to take France to the EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, following their detention in Monaco last month.
“How long must EU licensed and regulated operators endure legislation which causes wrongful financial harm and deprives their executives of even the basic right to travel freely in the EU Member States,” asked Didier Dewyn, EBA secretary-general. “We hope these new proceedings will put an end to the witch-hunts,” he added.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
filipe,
i searched the web and Associated Press, but cant find the artical,
do you have a link please?
