| | |  | Last Updated: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 |  | | | European Union Court Rules Against Italy's Online Gambling Monopoly
- Wednesday, 21 Mar 2007
Italy, just like many other countries in the world, has State-run gambling companies, which are of course a source of great income. The problem is that in many cases the country itself tries to block other online gambling sites from operating, as they can end up hurting those companies that are owned by the state. That was exactly the case in Italy until last week, when Europe’s highest court, the European Court of Justice has lifted a barrier used by Italy to keep out foreign online gambling competitors.
The European Court of Justice, which is located in Luxembourg, ruled that Italy can't use criminal law to stop gaming companies licensed in other EU nations, such as the UK, from taking bets in the country. The court prohibited the use of criminal law in particular in cases where foreign online gambling companies were refused the required license by the country. In one of those cases, Massimiliano Placanica, who operated shops in Italy where people could place bets in UK-based online gambling sites, faced criminal charges, due to the fact that the UK firm didn't have a local gaming license.
"This is a step further toward a liberalization of the European gambling markets, and it's certainly good news for the whole online gambling community" said Lode Van Den Hende, a lawyer in the Brussels office of Herbert Smith. It seems as the people thinks that way too, as shares in some of the biggest UK online gambling firms rose following the news.
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