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As expected, the European Commission will step up this week with a legal action againts Germany’s new gambling act that outlaws online gaming and betting, as Reuters reports.
Moreover, the Commission says it wasn’t informed properly. The online gambling market regulation seems one of the few areas in the economy where the EU members states seem to play hide-and-seek with the Commission..
“The Commission is expected to open a new legal action with a letter of formal notice against Germany over the new law and could well drop the old legal action it started last year,” the gaming industry source said.
EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy wants to crack down on hurdles to cross-border competition in services, a core part of the 27-country European Union’s single market. McCreevy started a legal action against Germany last year over its gaming laws.
The European Gaming and Betting Association said the German ban directly contravened EU law on the free movement of services and urged the Commission to take swift action.
McCreevy has launched proceedings against about 10 EU countries for stifling competition in their gaming or lottery sectors. He has drawn support from several rulings by the European Court of Justice, the bloc’s top court.
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According to the UK’s Gambling Commission’s newsletter the Canadian Kahnawake Mohawk territory and Antigua have both failed in their bid to be to be added to their white list thus preventing their online gambling operators from advertising in the UK.
 “After careful assessment of their representations against the published criteria, the Secretary of State has also decided not to white list Kahnawake (Canadian reservation) or Antigua.â€
That means that now gambling operators licensed in European Economic Area countries, which include Gibraltar and Malta, as well as those in Alderney, Isle of Man and now Tasmania can lawfully advertise gambling in the UK.
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Law and Economics Professor Kalle Määttä was hired by the Finland Ministry of Health and External Affairs to draft a report on the problem of protecting chidren and gambling addicts.
 His report could lead to a change in the Finland’s gambling law in 2008 and 2009, but also to comply with the EC decisions, although other seem to undermine it :
 Here are some important ides of his report :
In his white paper, Professor Määttä suggests that it could be impossible to regulate foreign online gambling companies serving Finland, but says that gambling problems could be reduced by making it difficult for such companies to offer services there.
Professor Määttä offers three ways in which the government could achieve this:
 The first would be to restrict the flow of funds to and from foreign gambling providers. The second would be to require internet service providers to block access to foreign gambling sites. The third would be to give consumers a legal right to recover their losses from foreign gambling sites if they were deemed illegal.
On the question of whether Finland would offer state-controlled online gambling in the event of foreign operators being banned, Mr. Paaso was unequivocal. “There will be no opportunities. The government will not offer something like the Swedish online poker site. It does not seem right, on the one hand offering online poker to your citizens, and on the other hand blocking others from doing the same.â€
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The Court of Appeal of Versailles called on 21 January 2007 to the French authorities to justify their regulatory framework is consistent, proportionate and justified, applying thus the European Court of Justice interpretation in the cases of Gambelli and Placanica.
The Court considered that referring a question for a preliminary ruling to the ECJ was also not necessary as EC law was clear enough.
The decision, although it is not a final one, was praised by EGBA :
EGBA welcomes the decision of the Court of Appeal of Versailles, which relies on the consistent jurisprudence of the ECJ and in particular the Placanica ruling of 6 March 2007. This decision is in line with the ruling of the Cour de Cassation, France’s Supreme Court, in the Zeturf case of 10 July 2007, with which it is fully in line. The French Supreme Court quashed a decision of the Court of Appeal which condemned private operator Zeturf in proceedings brought by the PMU.
Sigrid Ligné, Secretary General of the EGBA comments: “We are delighted with this decision. It is an important one and comes in the general context of the commitment taken by the French authorities to propose a controlled opening of the French gaming market by March 2008.â€
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Or at least – not in relation with the US authorities, that started the 2008 by disregarding again the problems with the EU and WTO treaty on the gambling issues and decided to go an arrest 8 persons that allegedly “made millions of dollars in profits annually.”
Reuters reports :
Twelve men face charges including conspiracy and illegal gambling in an indictment unsealed on Monday in Manhattan federal court for their role in operating a gambling Web site and call center that serviced U.S.-based sports bookies.
U.S. prosecution of foreign online gambling companies has drawn criticism from such companies in Europe, who have accused the Justice Department of violating World Trade Organization rules by singling out foreign companies in such cases.
In the latest case, U.S. prosecutors said that starting in 2005 Carmen Cicalese headed the operation out of Costa Rica, charging several hundred U.S. bookies weekly fees of $15 to $30 for each gambler they registered.
The gamblers then placed sports bets either via a toll-free number or on Web sites including datawager.com and betwestsports.com, the indictment said. While the operation set the odds for the bets, the payouts were left to the bookies, authorities said.
U.S.-based “runners” for the operation collected the fees and transferred the money back to Costa Rica through couriers, credit cards and electronic funds bank transfers.
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The UK Gambling Commission, a UK body sponsored by the Department for Culture Media and Sport and established under the Gambling Act in 2005 that is unded by betting licensing fees, has the responsibility of regulating betting and remote gaming for the UK.
The Commission has adopted on 28 December 2007 a Guidance document for online and offline casions on how they shoudl comply with the new UK regulation – Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (AML), which come into effect on 15 December 2007, and the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).
This document is a must read for casinos – not only for the ones in UK - The Prevention of Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism. Guidance for remote and non-remote casinos. Guidance to remote and non-remote casinos concerning their responsibilities under the Money Laundering Regulations, which came into effect on 15 December 2007, and the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The document also received seven answers during the period of public consultation, that are also available online.