Eu Online Bingo Laws To Be Challenged Soon

The EU gambling laws are likely to be the subject of a challenge in the context of online bingo in the immediate future.

As so often in the past, France is asserting its protectionist policies over European Union legislation which calls for trade barriers within the EU to be relaxed.

In the case in point, Mr Petter Nylander, Chief Executive of Unibet, was arrested by Dutch police on a French warrant citing a breach of the monopolistic French gambling laws.  Mr Nylander has decided against opposing his extradition to France, and is ready to back up in court his vocal criticism of the French laws.

The dispute comes at a time when the new French government is attempting to negotiate a softer line on online gambling with its own authorities. It has been suggested that the government may press French legal authorities to drop the case. Meanwhile the European Commission has warned the parties that Mr Nylander may well be innocent of the charges against him, given the primacy of the EU laws.

The case is attracting the attention of all sectors of the online gaming industry in Europe, including online bingo. In the light of the arrest some months ago in the USA of a non-US gaming executive while in transit, European countries and industry stakeholders are closely monitoring the case. Many believe that it will be an indicator of where the whole question of free markets within the European Union is heading.

Unibet is an online gaming company registered in Malta, with over 1,800,000 customers throughout the EU. The company operates from Britain.

A company spokesperson declared Unibet's anger at the seeming French disregard for EU free trade regulations. Speaking to newspapers in Holland, the spokesperson stated categorically that the company had not infringed the relevant law. It held a licence for one of the EU member countries, namely Britain, and the law clearly allowed access to all other member states based on licensing within any one of them.

Is the French civil service again out of step in leading the charge for protectionism? And will the new government succeed in reining in the civil service's power? We may all have the answers in the very near future.