CJEU against Hungary’s online gambling laws
EU’s top court has rejected Hungary’s proposed regime because it excludes other European countries from the licensing process.
Hungary.- The Court of Justice for the Europan Union (CJEU) ruled yesterday against Hungary’s online gambling regulation, as the court believes that it violated the freedom to provide services under the Article 56 of the EU Treaty by failing to provide a transparent process that would allow foreign companies to operate in the territory. The CJEU urged the country to review its laws back in April.
The review started after the Maltese sports betting provider Unibet International Ltd. confronted the government of Hungary due to alleged irregularities during the licensing process. After that, the European Union officials urged the country’s authorities to review the legislation of the iGaming industry. Unibet’s platform was temporary blocked by the Hungarian authorities for not possessing the corresponding permissions, although the brand considers them impossible to obtain.
The Maltese compay Unibet already operates sports betting platforms in several authorised markets of the European Union and owns licenses that allows it to provide gaming services to several Member States. Its website, which was accepting bets from Hungarian players, was blocked once the Central National Treasury and Customs Administration (‘the tax authority’) made inspections on the platform.
When Hungary proposed a change in its regulations back in 2014, it established that local casino operators could apply for online casino and poker licenses, and online sports betting activity would be exclusively in charge of the state run monopoly Szerencsejáték Zrt. When the new points were revealed, international operators claimed that the rules excluded them and that it indirectly favored domestic operators. The gaming company expressed back then that the requirements in the legislation are so exclusionary that, in practice, they make it impossible for it to obtain the concession that constitutes the precondition for the licence for organising games of chance online.
As Times of Malta revealed, Secretary General of EGBA, Maarten Haijer, said: “The Court reiterated that member states must guarantee that national regulation on online gambling services meets objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria. Only a properly regulated and transparent online gambling market can ensure that the consumer is channelled to the regulated offer.”
Moreover, the official said that the Court’s ruling is a clear message to other gaming authorities, including the Dutch Gaming Authority, that they must not enforce regulation that does not comply with basic EU law. “We expect these member states to reconsider and lift these enforcement measures as they are acting in violation of EU law. Their actions do not serve the interest of consumers, they fail to channel the consumers to reliable providers, instead they merely prop up failed regulation,” he added.
