June 29, 2007

Europe Embracing Online Gambling

Its refreshing to see a country (or in this case, bloc of countries) actually trying to embrace onling gambling, instead of trying to find ways to rein it in. We hope the spirit of open-ness might hop over to this side of the Atlantic!

The story is over on Gambling Planet

The European Commission has taken action to put an end to obstacles to the free movement of sports betting services in France, Greece and Sweden. The Commission has formally requested France and Sweden to amend their laws following consideration of their replies to letters of formal notice sent in April and October 2006.

These formal requests take the form of "reasoned opinions", the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice. In relation to Greece the Commission has decided to send an official request for information on national legislation restricting the supply of sports betting services. This takes the form of a letter of formal notice, the first step in the Article 226 infringement procedure. Greece has two months in which to respond.