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Online Casino News: EU Portugal Ruling Not Good
by Joanne R Monday September 14, 2009 at 9:45 PM
For those countries that had been considering adding online casino gambling to the list of things that they allow, a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice may have them thinking twice about how they allow it. The ECJ has just brought down a ruling that is opening the door for monopolies to exist within countries.
The Court of Justice ruled that gambling monopolies are not necessarily illegal. They are referring specifically to the monopoly that is being run in Portugal. They say that under European Union law that the monopoly would be legal if it was created to combat fraud and crime. The online casino company Bwin was challenging the fines that were being issued to the major soccer leagues in Portugal for the advertising that the online casino was doing to support them.
The problem with allowing monopolies to exist within countries, means that these countries essentially now have the right to ban any online casino that they want from coming into their country. For those countries that have been considering opening their doors to outside vendors, this now gives them liberties to not only keep the online casinos under government rule, but to also keep out those that they don't want.
This is particularly useful in Europe, where the European Commission has been working to open up the boundaries for online casino gambling. All of their hard work may have just been swept under the rug with this recent ruling. Experts say that an appeal is definitely in order, and that we can expect to see one shortly.
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