QUALIFIED VICTORY FOR BWIN IN GERMAN ONLINE SPORTSBETTING CASE

14 December 2007

Austrian-listed online betting group can operate in Germany


Gutsy Austrian betting group Bwin has achieved a qualified victory in its extensive litigation against German state protectionist moves, and can continue to offer sports betting in Germany with only minor restrictions after rulings by a German regional court were published this week, reports the Reuters news agency.

The company has been in legal conflict with several German state monopolies, and can now continue to operate in the former Communist East Germany under a licence issued days before German reunification in 1990, according to a court in the German state of Saxony.

The court ruled that this licence also covered arranging bets over the Internet, a decision which could undermine German plans to outlaw Internet gambling in new legislation planned to become effective next year.

"We welcome the decision because it confirms the license and makes clear that the planned [German] Gambling Law can't be realised," a spokesman for Bwin's German arm bwin e.K. said.

But the case didn't go entirely Bwin's way - disappointingly for the betting company, the court also said the license was not valid in the western part of the country - contradicting other courts in western German states which have deemed the license valid, and creating yet more confusion.

Bwin will have to request users to disclose where they are resident to make sure only east German users are allowed, according to the court's decision, which is final.

Bwin spokesmen said the company would obey the ruling but observed that western Germans could be diverted to Bwin's international web site bwin.com - which operates under a license issued by the British Overseas territory of Gibraltar.

Bwin.com's right to arrange sports bets with German-based users is also contested by German authorities but so far has not been definitively outlawed.

In a separate decision, the Saxon court endorsed a ban on Bwin.com in Saxony, where users can also alternatively use the German offering.

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