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Monday, September 21, 2009
Bookmaker stops legal proceedings against Norwegian tote

UK bookmaker Ladbrokes announced that it has stopped the legal proceedings against the Norwegian state gambling monopoly. It started these proceedings 5 years ago because it was refused a gambling license. The company's decision was made on the basis of the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) related to the case Bwin vs. La Santa de Misericordi.

In the ECJ ruling, it was confirmed more clearly than in any previous ruling that state monopolies are conform EU law if the country believes that such monopoly is necessary to fight fraud and consumer protection.

It seems that decisions on whether online gaming should be liberalised and regulated have come back from EU to national, and from legal to political level.