UNCONFIRMED REPORTS ON GERMAN GAMBLING DEAL

29 June 2007

Has the European Commission brokered a sportsbetting deal with German states?

Unconfirmed reports in Der Spiegel, Europe's biggest and Germany's most influential weekly news publication suggest that the European Commission may have broken the impasse between German states defending their online gambling monopolies against gambling companies from other EU nations, and EU policies requiring free access to goods and services between EU nations.

The report claims that Charlie MacCreevie's European Commission officials have suggested a compromise solution that would see the 16 German states retaining sole authority over lottery and casino gambling in return for opening up German sportsbetting activities to private companies - presumably within as well as outside the country but confined to companies within EU states in the foreign context. The German reaction to the proposal is not known.

Der Spiegel reports that, “The [European] Commission would in no way challenge the existence and continuation of the states’ monopolies on lotteries and other forms of gambling” in return for an opening up of the sports betting market.

The German states have vigouresly opposed the intrusion on their monopolies by foreign betting companies, and were informed earlier this year by the European Commission that denying access to companies from other European Union nations could result in legal action.

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