January 23, 2015

Stanleybet loses EU suit over Italian licenses appeal

Stanley International online betting subsidiary Stanleybet Italia has lost its European Union (EU) lawsuit against Italian authorities regarding the assigned length of gambling licenses.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favour of Italian gambling regulators, dismissing that betting licenses for new market entrants lasting 40 months were not unfair in comparison to established Italian gambling firms that had gained 12 year licenses in the jurisdiction.

Stanleybet had registered its legal actions against Italian gambling authorities on the grounds of unfair business practices and the regulator creating uneven market conditions.

However the ECJ deemed that Italy’s regulator could issue different license expiry dates in order to create a coherent national gambling policy and reduce gambling opportunities.

Stanley International said in a statement that while the court ruled in Italy’s favour on the length of licenses, the judges ignored other parts of the lawsuit, including Italy’s obligation to adjust to previous rulings from the court.

The case has been filed under C-463/13 Stanley International Betting Ltd vs Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze and Agenzia delle Dogane e Die Monopoli di stato.

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