EU tells Germany Their Internet Gambling Ban Violates EU Law

Guenter Verheugen, the European Union's industry commissioner, wrote to German states this past week warning them they had a month to rework draft legislation that would ban online gambling, or face possible legal action.

"We asked Germany to reconsider the total ban on lottery and sports betting on the Internet," the Commission official said. "We think a proposed total ban is disproportionate and there are less restrictive measures, such as mandatory prior registration and strict guarantees on identification."

He continued, "We feel Germany has not provided sufficient data that justified the total ban. Germany has a month to reply. An infringement proceeding is one possibility."

The Reuters news agency reporting the EU's warning quoted an unidentified EU policymaker as saying that the German plans were inconsistent because they allowed horse racing but banned other forms of gaming.

The warning comes after the EU had also criticised Denmark, Finland and Hungary for blocking foreign betting firms.

In many European nations, betting is still a state-controlled monopoly.

However under EU law, EU countries are not allowed to block firms of other member states from operating in their home markets if they allow domestic companies to operate gambling sites and lotteries, and run betting operations.

The Commission said it had asked Germany to reconsider the total ban on lottery and sports betting on the internet.

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