European Court of Justice Advocate General Provides Opinion

In Europe the highest court one can go to for a settlement in any dispute is the European Court of Justice. The Advocate General of this court has given the world his opinion on the online gambling operators Betfair and Ladbrokes suit against the Dutch government. His opinion is a early win for the state run monopoly De Lotto in the Netherlands which holds all the cards as the sole supplier of internet gambling in that country. Although the Advocate General's opinion is not a final legal one it is an indication of the direction the court will take in regards to legal cases such as this one. As in the case of Portugal the Advocate General Mr. Bot has commented that European Union member nations are allowed to legally maintain state monopolies regarding internet gaming if the country finds that it must do so in order to prevent fraud or protect it's citizens from excessive gambling activity. This conclusion also gives monopolies the right to make new games available to it's citizens if it is a move to keep customers from accessing unregulated or offshore sites.

The managing director of Ladbrokes remote gaming and betting division John O'Reilly stated,  " We continue to believe that the European Court of Justice should uphold the principals of free and fair competition across borders as there is no logic in fact that the Dutch monopoly could freely compete against us in the U.K. but we are prevented from accepting bets from any Dutch resident that finds us on the internet."

Secretary General Sigrid Ligne of the European Gaming and Betting Association a lobby group representing Bet at Home, Bwin, Interwetten, Unibet, PartyGaming, Digibet and Expekt, commented on the AG's opinion, " This is a key question for the ECJ given that the exclusive licence has repeatedly been handed to De Lotto without any form of tendering. Unfortunately the ECJ will not provide a judgement until next year but in most cases the court does go with the opinion of the Advocate General.