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Stanleybet vows to enforce EU law in case against FDJ

Stanleybet International has vowed to enforce European case law in its attempt to break up the land-based betting monopoly enjoyed by Française des Jeux.

The Liverpool-based offline betting company already operates in Italy, Cyprus and Poland and lodged an appeal with the French State Council, France’s highest judicial court, in August 2009 to overturn the FDJ monopoly on offering bets through land-based outlets.

Stanleybet has already achieved major legal breakthroughs in Europe through the Gambelli and Placanica rulings of 2003 and 2007, which recognised the right of sports betting businesses legally established in one European Member State to offer those services in another Member State.

However, Stanleybet deputy managing director Adrian Morris told iGaming France that the circumstances surrounding his company’s action in the French courts were different.

“This position is different to Gambelli and Placanica because they were individual intermediaries in Italy and we have no intermediaries in France. Our application for a licence in France is about an unjustified monopoly and if the State Council considers that it cannot decide on it without guidance, then it is in its power to refer a question to the European Court of Justice,” he said.

French land-based betting outlets revolve around a café-bar set up, compared with the UK model of the high street betting shop, and Morris said his company’s model of setting up outlets in France should it be successful in the French courts would be flexible. “We would prefer a partnership with a local entity, although it is too early in the proceedings (to be considering this question yet),” he said.

Continental European offline betting patterns were also very different to those in the UK, Morris added, as punters tended to bet mainly on football rather than horse and dog racing. Even if France does have a strong racing culture, it is not as high in other European markets. This means set up and hardware costs and the need for fast-changing information to go with each new race were not as high.

Stanleybet will also make use of the ECJ finding in the Santa Casa-Bwin case it ruled on in September 2009 that online gaming presented an increased risk of problem and addiction gambling than its offline equivalent. If that is the case and online gaming is set to be regulated in France in the coming months, the company believes there is no reason why offline betting should not be open to competition for private operators.

France is known for its protectionism with regard to its gambling monopolies, and when asked if he felt Stanleybet had a good chance of winning this case, Morris said: “Up to 17 EU Member States already allow licensed offline betting and more are in the process of regulating this sector of the gambling industry. We see no reason why the French State Council cannot reach a verdict that is compliant with European Law without a referral to the ECJ. But it should refer the case to the ECJ if it has a doubt about the compliance of the FDJ monopoly with European case law. Our view is that the monopoly is unjustified.”

Morris had no specific timeframe as to the next judicial step in the procedure.

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