Bookmaker News – Dutch Ban Upheld by European Court

According to the European Court of Justice, it appears the imposition of trade restrictions within the EU is perfectly legal if applied to online betting! Now, I always thought that the basic principle of the European ‘common market’ was that any individual or company resident within the community was allowed to trade with other residents, providing their trade was licensed and operating within the law. Not so, apparently, in the Netherlands which, purely by coincidence has a very profitable state-owned betting monopoly (De Lotto) and where the government has just successfully applied to the ECJ to uphold a ban on overseas betting operators trading in their country. Now I should point out that neither Betfair nor Ladbrokes have licenses to bet in the Netherlands, but that shouldn’t be a problem under normal EU laws. However, it prompted the Dutch government to go to the ECJ and ask for an endorsement of their policy, which the European Court of Justice were happy to give accompanied by the following statement (I’ve edited this slightly but the message is quite clear), "Such an objection may be justified by the objectives of consumer protection and the prevention of both fraud and incitement to squander money on gambling, as well as the need to preserve public order." What a load of absolute tosh! Are the Dutch going to ban the sale of clogs because they are totally impractical in the modern day and a waste of money? Might that cause a riot of clog-makers? Would the clog market be flooded by cheap fakes manufactured by enslaved children overseas? This is the latest in a long line of judgements handed down by European courts that seem to fly in the face of the EU charter. Betfair says it will continue to offer a service to Dutch bettors until local authorities order them not to and, in the meantime, they are applying for a Dutch betting license. However, it appears punters in Holland are going to be stuck with De Lotto, and much worse odds, than the majority of their European cousins for the foreseeable future.