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The right to free access to online gambling in Europe is destined to be decided by the courts.

The situation is somewhat similiar to that in the US where a Member State can not encourage citizens to to participate in state lotteries which benefits the state’s Finances while restricting access to other betting services. It is that simple.

What European laws says is that a Member States cannot protect state-sponsored monopolies at the expense of private or foreign-based enterprise. If you followed what happend in April this year The EU Commission responded to complaints that Member States (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands) were in breach of Article 49 of the EC Treaty which guarantees the free movement of services. The breach seems to have too much in common with the recent arrests in France of two CEOs of Bwin.

The French actions, in attempting to protect their monopoly, are incompatible with European Community law.Just like in US the “stakes” are high.