17-04-2008 Bwin can win legal fight against Germany

The Austrian bookmaker might win its legal fight against the ban on internet sports betting in Germany, said Johannes Caspar, law professor at Hamburg University and legal adviser to the Schleswig-Holstein state legislature.

Bwin, which last year accrued a third of its €353.5 million revenues in Germany, argues that the German ban violates European Union law and Professor Caspar agrees. ‘It won't stand the test at the European Court of Justice,’ he told Bloomberg.

The online bookmaker filed lawsuits against several German states claiming that state rules are not applied consistently. No one in Europe will understand why you need a monopoly for dog-race betting but don't need it when horses are running, said Clemens Weidemann, a laywer for Bwin.