Charlie McCreevy, the European Union internal market commissioner, said the three countries will receive a \’letter of formal notice\’ warning that their restrictive laws on gambling may be in violation of EU rules. McCreevy also said there are more to follow.
“We would like to have more. We have complaints against another six or seven member states. I reckon overall there will be 15 or 16 member states,” he said.
According to the European Commission, the new legislation introduced by the Italian Government, which requires private online betting providers to obtain an Italian betting license even if they are already licensed in another EU member state, violates internal market rules that guarantee the free movement of services within the European Union.
In the case of France, the European Commission has concerns about the proportionality of the French measures where operators licensed in other EU Member States are denied access to the French betting market for reasons such as the protection of consumers from gambling addiction.
The European Court of Justice has previously stated that any restrictions which seek to protect consumers, must be “consistent and systematic” in how they seek to limit activities. A Member State cannot invoke the need to restrict the access to foreign betting services if at the same time the betting opportunities offered by national operators or state-monopolies continue to expand.
McCreevy said the Commission decided to inquire into the compatibility of the national measures with existing EU laws after it received a large number of complaints from betting operators.
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