Brussels, 13/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Commission wishes to ensure the compatibility of Austrian, French and Italian legislation on gambling with Community law. It has also requested Poland to end discriminatory taxation of foreign lottery winnings.
The Commission has asked questions of the Austrian authorities in relation to national legislation which prohibits advertising of casinos established in other Member States, and about the lack of protection from excessive losses for non-Austrian gamblers. In France's case, it has asked a series of questions about a range of restrictions imposed on remote sports betting operators established in other Member States and which do not have access to the French sport and horse race betting market, for reasons such as consumer protection, when the French betting market is expanding. In Italy, legislation has blocked access to the websites of legitimate European operators, a situation which the Commission considers disproportionate insofar as the Italian sports betting market is growing and is reserved to domestic operators. “We are not seeking to liberalise the market in any way”, rather “we are seeking reassurance that whatever measures Member States have in place are fully compatible with existing EU law,” said Commissioner Charlie McCreevy in a press release. According to European case law, any restriction which seeks to protect general interest objectives, such as the protection of consumers, must be “consistent and systematic”. A Member State may not, therefore, invoke the need to restrict its citizens' access to gambling services if at the same time it incites and encourages them to participate in state games of chance or betting offered by national operators as a monopoly.
European Lotteries, the European association of national lotteries, said it was confident that Austria and France would clarify the regulatory validity surrounding gambling in their respective jurisdictions. “Gambling is not suitable for a pure internal market approach because of its particular health and social dimension and its sensitivity to criminal risks and problems,” it said in a press release. Stanley International Betting has welcomed the infringement proceedings undertaken against Italy. “How many complaints, how many cases against the Italian sports betting regime and how many Court rulings will be needed before the Italian authorities get rid of the protectionist measures that apply on their national betting market?” asks the British company in a press release.
Finally, the Commission has requested Poland to end discriminatory taxation of foreign lotteries. In Poland, winnings from lotteries in other Member States are subject to a higher level of taxation (19-40%) than winnings from in Polish lotteries (maximum 10%). The Commission considers this situation contrary to the principle of free provision of services. (mb)