If the European Commission holds its grounds strong, the German law prohibiting certain forms of online betting is about to go for a toss. But it’s still not clear who is going to win, though the new regulation posed by the German government attracted numerous criticisms from the German online gambling community. While the German government is looking at the whole game plan as a way to stop the money from going outside the country in vain, long-time online gamblers are criticizing massively the new regulations as much as the Internet betting companies as well as the lottery brokers. The ones that got the centre stage most due to the controversy are Bwin Interactive Entertainment, Tipp24 and Fluxx, who further turned up the heat by claiming the regulations as contrary to law and filing a lawsuit against the policies if required.
The European Gaming and Betting Association claimed Germany’s gambling law to be a violation of the European Union laws that approve of the free goods and services trading within the European continent. However, the only form of gambling that has not been threatened by it is horse racing, but that doesn’t seem to pull it off with the EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association), more so, because of an arrest warrant issued against Unibet CEO Petter Nylander and his organisation. The European Commission backed much of the opposition indirectly; Germany was asked to reconsider the entire law by the Regulator of the European Union since they consider the agenda disproportional. However, Germany’s answer concerned the citizens of the country – it is a step the Government took to protect the Germans as well as the economy; that translated, to stop the German currency from crossing the borders and to lift the morals of the countrymen.
The European Commission’s regulatory arm has gone to the extent of opening an investigation regarding the German law; according to Oliver Drewes (commission spokesman) – “The government soon will decide whether Germany broke EU laws, for regulators are aware of the gambling groups’ concerns”. Now, with the commission and the European courts’ orders on the EU member countries for not – in any way – restricting legal gambling businesses, the law has taken a twist to controversies and European Government officials are gearing up to push ahead against the German as well as other EU states in the gambling sector with legal actions.
Sigrid Ligne (secretary general, EGBA) made his statement clear – “We urge the Commission now to fast track our complaint and launch infringement proceedings against Germany.” The actions have also been taken to stop financial losses from occurring to several related industries e.g. Aftonbladet, Sweden’s largest daily newspaper that generates revenues that is more than a million dollars every month from online gambling ads. The newspaper has asked Commissioner McCreevy to speed up the process against the gambling restrictions. However, if Brussels join the bandwagon of protestors against Germany, there are high chances that the European Court of Justice shall fine and force the country for changing its laws.
