In an unprecedented political move by Maltese standards, the two parties have joined forces to put pressure on the European Commissioner Charlie Mc Creevy to take action against EU member states who have legislated to limit the free movement of services in regard to Maltese online betting companies.
Mc Creevy told The Times of Malta that EU member states may seek to protect the general interest, but this must be done in a manner consistent with EU law.
He also said that the Italian legislation, which requires all Italian ISPs to block access to all gambling websites not authorized by the Italian authorities, is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Commission. The Commission has started investigating after it recived a large number of complaints from gambling operators regarding their right to free movement of services under Article 49 of the EC Treaty.
Meanwhile Italy registered a 82% revenue increase from the gaming sector in the last three years. While the result was mainly due to an entertainment gaming machine boom, the Italian Government expects to double the income coming from sports bets within the next two/three years, following the liberalization of the sector introduced by the Bersani decree law.
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