Industry News - February 2009

Belgian Court Calls On ECJ To Referee Football Image Rights Dispute

25/02/2009: The Court of Appeals in Liège has asked the ECJ to clarify whether EU regulations award it competency to rule over an image rights dispute brought by several of Europe’s leading football clubs against prominent online gambling companies including Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betfair, Bwin and Unibet. The case dates back to 2005 and had included footballers David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane as plaintiffs until Real Madrid withdrew from the proceedings last year

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European Commission Applies Pressure To Italy, Greece

24/02/2009: The EU’s executive body has threatened to fine Italy over its delayed retendering of 329 horserace betting licences, while the Commission has also begun a formal investigation into part state-owned gambling monopoly OPAP’s role in the awarding of a technology contract in Greece

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European Legal Perspectives – Christel Schaldemose

23/02/2009: The progress of an own-initiative report on online gambling, overseen by the European parliament’s Internal Markets Committee and authored by Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose, has galvanised lobbying efforts by both private and monopoly operators, but it has also depth-charged unexpected levels of concern by MEPs about gambling legislation in Europe. In this exclusive interview with GamblingCompliance, Schaldemose describes the motivations behind the report and her expectations of its next stages

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Eurosport Gains EU Clearance For Online Betting Tie-Up

19/02/2009: The European Commission has waived objections to the sports broadcaster Eurosport forming an online sports betting subsidiary with a French media and investment group after the venture, SPS Betting, was adjudged not to breach EU merger regulations. The EU’s green light comes as SPS awaits the outcome of its application for a remote gambling licence in Alderney.

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Online Operators Look To Rewrite Italy’s New Blocking Rules

17/02/2009: As Italy’s gaming sector booms – and delivers billions in fresh tax revenues – the country’s MPs have been unable to resist the temptation to come up with new legislation to modify the present regime, but the idea of a single, government run online gaming portal has proved too much for the industry to swallow.

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EU Committee Adopts ‘Prejudiced’ Online Gambling Report

12/02/2009: A controversial MEP report on online gambling, which was recently accused of being severely prejudiced against the legitimacy of the industry by a senior figure at the UK’s Gambling Commission, was formally adopted by an EU Internal Market committee yesterday ahead of a full vote in the European Parliament in early March.

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ESSA Follows Olympic Betting Oversight With US Expansion

11/02/2009: After finding no concerns at the Beijing Olympics, the systematic monitoring of online sports betting to detect suspicious activity made further progress in recent weeks as the European Sports Security Association (ESSA) signed new cooperation agreements with governing bodies including US professional hockey’s NHL.

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bwin is Founding Sponsor of The Transparency Project

10/02/2009: bwin is the founding sponsor of The Transparency Project, the world’s first ever public data repository for privately-funded datasets related to addictive behavior. The project is an initiative of the Division on Addictions, Cambridge Health Alliance, a Teaching Affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Its purpose is to make data available to scientists so that they can advance the available empirical evidence and knowledge base about addiction.

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