EUROPEAN REGULATION
Greece
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
Operator type: All products are exclusively
reserved for the monopoly providers, although 24
transitional licences for private operators remain
active, with all products permitted.
Status: In 2012, a ‘transition period’ commenced,
whereby the Greek government granted 24 transitional
licences to operators, enabling them to keep
transacting with Greek residents. Legislation, which
will introduce an open licensing regime for online
betting and “other online games”, including casino and
poker, entered into force on 30 October 2019. The new
regime is expected to be in place shortly after 31
March 2020, although transitional licensees had to
apply for a new temporary transitional licence before
30 November 2019.
Hungary
Ireland
Regulated gambling products: Online gaming
(e.g. casino and bingo) is not specifically accounted
for in Ireland’s legislation. As such it is currently
unregulated.
Operator type: Online betting regulated since
August 2015.
Status: Ireland has been contemplating updating its
legislation for some time. In April 2019, an
inter-departmental working group on the future
licensing and regulation of gambling published a
report indicating that a reform of Irish betting and
gaming laws may finally be going ahead in the near
future. Legislative progress is not expected until
at least early 2020.
Italy
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting,
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery.
Regulated gambling products: Sports betting, Operator type: Fully regulated market, although
horse race betting, poker, casino, bingo and lottery. lotteries are the subject of a state monopoly.
Status: Remote gambling licences are granted
within specific application windows. The last tender
process for applications closed on 19 March 2018.
On 7 August 2018, the Italian parliament approved a
decree which prohibits gambling advertising and
sponsorship. The ban took effect on 14 July 2018,
although ongoing advertising and sponsorship
contracts remained valid until the earlier of their
expiration date or 14 July 2019. The Italian
communications regulator released guidelines for
the ad ban with the hope of clarifying its scope. New
measures to combat unlicensed gambling, including
payment blocking measures, entered into effect in
October 2019.
Operator type: Only the state monopolies
(Szerencsejáték Zrt. and Magyar Lóversenyfogadást-
Szervezo Kft) and local concession companies can
apply for a licence.
Status: Amendments to Hungarian gambling law
came into force on 1 October 2015 and allow only two
land-based casinos to hold remote casino concessions.
The regulator has since issued fines, a number of which
have been challenged, against unlicensed operators that
continue to target the market. In June 2017, the ECJ
determined Hungary’s gambling regime to be
incompatible with Article 56 TFEU. A subsequent ECJ
decision in February 2018 ruled against the Hungarian
requirement that online gambling operators must have
a land-based licence to offer online gambling services to
Hungarian citizens, further strengthening arguments
that the current regime is incompatible with EU law. The
Hungarian Ministry of Justice has stated its intention to
continue to seek to enforce the existing regime despite
the most recent ruling.
Luxembourg
Regulated gambling products: Lottery.
Operator type: Monopoly.
Status: The general prohibition on gambling
MARKETPLACE 2020
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