Online Gambling under EU Law: Strolling Between Controlled Expansion and Genuine Diminution of Gambling Opportunities

Abstract

This article outlines some of the ambiguities arising from the endeavours of the EU Court to offer the national courts sufficiently clear interpretation of EU rules on free movement of services in respect of various national restrictions of online gambling that would enable them to make rulings in increasingly high numbers of cases in which foreign providers are restricted from accessing markets of EU Member States. It is submitted that this casuistic approach by the Court should not be considered as satisfying and that harmonising instruments should be adopted by the EU legislators, instead. Yet however, this is less realistic than ever before, as the Commission in situation of a total lack of the Member States« consensus stepped away from its efforts to pave the way to at least minimum standards of gambling offerings and provision of customers« protection, leaving it further to the EU and national courts to balance between controlled expansion and genuine diminution of gambling opportunities so as to weigh between free movement of services and opposing legitimate aims of the Member States.

Second Session at the Virtual Poker Table: A Contemporary Study of Actual Online Poker Activity

“…Gambling involves risking something of value on the outcome of an event that is at least partially determined by chance. Online platforms have increased opportunities to gamble in more convenient, easily accessible formats (Hojnik, 2018 ; Lawn et al, 2020 ). For some, internet gambling comes with many related harms (e.g., see Håkansson & Widinghoff, 2020 ).…”