Highest EU Court validated Swedish state monopoly for gaming and betting

The Court ruled that the “Swedish legislation which prohibits the promotion [advertising] of gambling organised on the Internet by private operators in other Member States for profit is consistent with Community law”. The Court hereby reconfirms its jurisprudence as outlined in the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol case in September 2009.

In addition, the Court ruled that Member States have the right to “exclud[e] private profit-making interests from the gambling sector” and “may restrict the operation of gambling to public or charitable bodies”

The European Lotteries (EL) welcomes the Court’s ruling. EL President Friedrich Stickler comments: “The Court has given full backing to the gambling model we stand for, a model from which the whole of society benefits. It has once again rejected the arguments of the many private online gambling operators which pursue purely commercial interests.”

European Lotteries (EL) is the European umbrella organisation of state lotteries operating games of chance for the public benefit. EL has members from 40 European countries including all 27 EU Member States. The association’s members contribute more than 20 billion euros to the state budgets and the funding of sport, culture, social projects, research and other causes of general interest. Unlike many commercial online gambling operators, EL members only offer gambling and betting services in the jurisdictions in which they are licensed by the respective national government.