Poker Superstars
Phil Hellmuth
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EU Formally Moves Against Germany and Sweden |
 As mentioned in recent news of the past few weeks, the European Union's complaint against German bans of online gaming (which went into effect as of January 1st) is now a formal complaint, kicking off the legal proceedings against making online poker and other forms of gambling legal again.
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The EU issued a formal letter to the German government last week, the first step in a series of proceedings to bring the German law banning online gaming under review and, hopefully, repeal for its direct cross of EU standards. A formal complaint had been filed earlier in January 08 but nothing as yet has been done about it, though the EU has made it clear they are willing to take the issue before the European Court of Justice if they have to to set things right.
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As stated, the EU's commission is railing against Germany's “total prohibition of games of chance on the Internet notably sports betting; … advertising restrictions on TV, on the Internet, or on jerseys or billboards; and the prohibition on financial institutions to process and execute payments relating to unauthorised games of chance. In addition, questions are raised regarding the authorisation regime to be granted to intermediaries as well as the criminal sanctions or administrative fines provided for in cases of organisation, advertising, and participation in online games of chance.”
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The EU is now officially being back by the EGBA, or European Gaming and Betting Association, (so many progressive acronymed faculties overseas!), which consists of eight of the most major gaming corporations. A figure at the EGBA stated, “By commencing these broad proceedings only 30 days after the Treaty entered into force, the Commission shows its determination to fight restrictions and in particular prohibitions, which are not backed by genuine consumer protection or public order interests. What happened in the U.S. proved that prohibition cannot be the answer. Trustworthy and highly transparent online gaming companies abandoned the U.S. market, thus paving the way for a grey market in which no guidelines whatsoever exist in terms of consumer protection, prevention of compulsive gaming, and protection of minors.”
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The EU simultaneously began proceeding against the Swedish gaming corporation Svenska Spel, a state-run board who continues to exclude non-governmental gambling agencies from operating in Sweden. As it stands now, the Swedish board has two months to demonstrate that their rules are valid under EU law. Good luck, jerks.
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February 8, 2008 |
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