Whilst unveiling a sponsorship agreement with first division soccer club AS Monaco, Manfred Bodner and Norbert Teufelberger, Co-Chief Executive Officers of BWin International Entertainment AG, were detained by French Authorities for allegedly violating French gambling laws.
Trading on BWin\’s shares was suspended in Vienna.
Elsewhere, Bavaria has become the third German state to ban BWin from taking bets on sports.
“Sports bets are illegal in Bavaria if they\’re not organized by the Bavarian State Lottery Administration,” said the government of the Bavarian region of Central Franconia in a statement.
“Two of Europes biggest betting markets, Germany and France, have moved from a passive attitude on online gaming to a hostile, active attitude,” said Michael Schatzschneider, analyst at Commerzbank AG.
UPDATE: Judge Jean-Marx Cathelin of Nanterre, who authorized the arrests of Bodner and Teufelberger, has been investigating “illicit gambling” and “the publicity of an illicit activity” since November 2005 after the French state gambling monopoly Française des Jeux (FdJ) filed a lawsuit against BWin and other online bookmakers.
A spokesperson for the state-owned Française des Jeux said: “It is reasonable to assume that any other executive from an online bookmaker who came to France would also be arrested. We are doing exactly the same as the authorities in the US who arrested the British executives.”
It is understood that executives of Gamebookers and 888.com, which, like BWin, are sponsoring French soccer clubs, are at risk of arrest if they ever go to France.
Frederic Manin, the French lawyer of BWin\’s two Co-CEOs, commented: “If FdJ had a low profile, it might be acceptable, but it has launched a full-fledge diversification campaign, boasts a two-digit annual growth rate and, through its Euro Million game, is reaching out to countries other than France.”
“The interest of FdJ is solely financial. If you let FdJ grow, then other gaming companies should also be allowed into France,” he continued.
The lawyer went on to say that France was acting in a “disproportionate and illegitimate manner” and that the “French State must apply a consistent gaming policy.”
According to BWin spokeswoman Karin Klein, “the arrest was initiated by the French monopolist \’Francaise des Jeux\’ with the goal of causing fear.”
Klein added that BWin would initiate breach of treaty proceedings against France at the European Commission.
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