Euro Online Casino

In an unexpected turn of events, the European Court of Justice ruled that the Netherlands could block online casino gambling operators. This is not good for Dutch online casino players. However this doesn’t mean that if you are Dutch that you can’t play at online casinos anymore. The situation is the same in Italy and many gamblers in Italy still gamble on the internet.

The court stated that since there was no direct communication between the customer and the online casino operator, it would lead to increased risks of fraud by the operators against the players. I’m not sure that this is quite true.

The issue first came to light when De Lotto, the strongest lottery service in the Dutch market, charged Ladbrokes and Betfair with providing illegal online sports betting to Dutch consumers.

The group of eight leading European online gaming operators constituting the non-profit organization the EGBA (European Gaming and Betting Association), stated that the internet was raising questions that could not be resolved by the judicial process.

EGBA Secretary General Sigrid Lignà stated that it was the duty of the European legislator to ensure that the IT-based medium which allowed for the highest security standards demanded consistent customer protection and fraud control throughout the EU.

Consumer rights group Right2Bet was against the decision for the ban. The group stated that the ECJ was out of touch with modern day consumers and that it came to its conclusion without any evidence.

The EU has been constantly trying to legalize gambling throughout the European Union. This ban has taken the efforts towards legalization of online gambling a huge step backwards. Time will tell of the fruits of the battle. The EU will just have to wait and see if the fruits of the battle will be sweet or sour.