EU takes legal action against Germany and Sweden on gambling laws

Reuters
Published: January 31, 2008

BRUSSELS: The European Commission opened legal action against Germany and Sweden on Thursday as part of a wider effort to crack down on hurdles to competition in the gambling industry.

Charlie McCreevy, the European Union's internal market commissioner, asked Germany for information so that Brussels could assess whether a treaty that took effect this year to ban online gambling in the country was in line with the bloc's rules on the free movement of services.

"Germany has two months in which to respond," the commission, the executive arm of the EU, said in a statement. "The commission hopes that the answers it receives will lead to an early and satisfactory resolution of the matter."

Germany's lottery group, Deutscher Lotto & Totoblock, said it was confident of the outcome of the inquiry.

The commission took legal action against Sweden to verify whether all national measures relating to poker games and tournaments were compatible with EU laws on the free movement of services. Brussels also gave Stockholm two months to respond.

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