EUROMAT News Bulletin 21 September 2012

EU AFFAIRS

20/09/12 – The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Advocate General, Jan Mazak, has delivered his opinion on the “Stanleybet et al.” joined case (C 186/11 and C 209/11). The Court was asked to examine the legitimacy of the monopoly of OPAP, the Greek state-controlled gambling company. The case follows a refusal by the Greek authorities of the applications made by three international betting companies seeking the grant of licences to run, organise and operate games of chance in Greece. In his opinion, the Advocate General stated that the monopolistic position held by OPAP is in breach of EU law. He concluded that a national monopoly in gambling can be justified, by a national court, in an attempt to restrict the supply of games of chances or to combat criminality related to gambling but that the State has a strict duty to justify the same and that this is not being done by the Greek Government. Mazak's opinion will be taken into account by the judges of the European Court of Justice who are expected to make a ruling in the coming months.

18/09/12 – The European Parliament’s Committee on Organised crime, corruption and money laundering (CRIM) held a two-day hearing on organised crime in sport. MEPs discussed match-fixing and money laundering and called for a harmonised European legal framework on these issues. The hearing preceded the EU Sport Forum organised by the European Commission on 19 and 20 September, where EU sport Ministers and representatives of European Institutions and the sports movement met to discuss, amongst others, match-fixing issues. The EP debate will feed into the Commission work on money laundering.

MEMBER STATE NEWS

19/09/12 – Separate to the ECJ Advocate General Opinion, the Greek Government has confirmed plans to raise taxes levied on the Greek gaming monopoly operator OPAP. The finance minister has announced that the government had reached agreement with the European Commission to impose a flat 10 per cent tax on all player winnings from OPAP games from January 2013. In addition, it has been also agreed that if revenue from video lottery terminals (VLTs) is higher than expected, the existing tax payable by OPAP will be increased from 30 per cent to 35 per cent.

19/09/12 – Malta’s Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA) and Jersey’s Gambling Commission have signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU lays a formal basis and framework for the future cooperation. With this agreement the two jurisdictions recognise common values for remote gaming and aim to develop common responsible gaming measures. Earlier this year, LGA signed a number of other MoUs.