Category: EU Updates

On Thursday 3 December the Belgian Parliament voted in favour of implementing a new internet gambling law, expected to enter into force early 2010.

The new legislation states that licences will be assigned to land-based gambling operators already set up in Belgium and who either already operate a casino (category A), gaming and amusement machines outside casinos (category B) or bookmakers (category F). The Belgian lottery will also be made available online.

The draft law was originally sent to the European Commission and the other Member States for examination on 27 March 2009. However, the limits on who may obtain licences prompted a Detailed Opinion from the European Commission, which claimed that some areas were not in line with the EU principle of freedom of service. The Belgian government therefore reconsidered the proposals and implemented some slight amendments but selected to keep in place the clause which specifies that online gaming licences will only be offered to already existing land-based gambling operators within Belgium and even then in limited numbers.

It is widely understood that following the recent ECJ ruling on the ‘Bwin-Santa Casa’ case in early September 2009, the Belgian government decided not to implement the recommendations of the European Commission. In that particular case, the ECJ delivered a verdict in favour of the Portuguese monopoly Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, therefore enforcing the legality of state-run online gambling services, stating ‘it may be justified by over-riding reasons relating to the public interest’. When the new Belgian legislation enters into force in early 2010, it will without doubt face legal challenges from those online gambling operators who have been excluded and also possible infringement proceedings from the European Commission depending on what new Internal Market Commissioner-designate Michel Barnier will decide to do once he is confirmed by the European Parliament in January 2010.

At a time when other Member States in the EU are currently revising their online gambling legislation, the Belgian example may indeed set a precedent and cause other national governments to follow their example.

Print