Gambling restrictions criticized

RESTRICTIONS on Austria’s gambling ad’s were criticized this week by the European Court of Justice Advocate General Mazak. They claimed that these are discriminatory & a potentially concealed total ban for cross-border advertising. AG Mazak claims that this provision is against EU law. The Austrian Gambling Act had previously banned all advertising for non-Austrian based gambling operators.

Commenting on the AG’s opinion, Maarten Haijer, Director for Regulatory Affairs at the trade body European Gaming & Betting Association, said:

“We welcome AG Mazak EUR™s opinion also for pointing out that the actual level of protection provided by the operator should be considered. All EGBA members comply with the agreement on Responsible Remote Gambling Measures that was agreed in the context of the European Standardisation Committee.

“The AG confirms that assessing whether consumer laws in different Member States are equal is highly doubtful in practice due to the lack of harmonisation at EU level. It also begs the question why European consumers are still subject to different protection levels. It is time to agree on a common set of European consumer protection rules for gambling.”

In his opinion, AG Mazak commented: “I wish to repeat my doubts as to the possibility of actually comparing the level of protection of gamblers in different legal systems, given the lack of harmonisation in the area of gambling & games of chance, as well as the diversity of national legislation in this area.”