Today Mr Justice Green handed down his judgment in the UK judicial review proceedings and found that the new UK licensing regime was not in breach of EU law.

GBGA comment:

“Naturally we are disappointed with the Court’s decision.  Cross-border regulatory regimes require significant co-ordination and co-operation on key legal and regulatory issues and the UK already had this with the Gibraltar industry, regulator and jurisdiction.  We maintain this law is not in the best interests of consumers, the industry and the regulator itself and that there are more effective ways of dealing with the challenges of regulation and competition in this sector. We remain concerned the UK regulator will find it difficult to hold companies to account in jurisdictions outside of the EU where it has no legal powers and common legal framework or culture.   Given this judgment there is now even greater need for an EU legal framework for online gambling if we are to effectively protect all European consumers, enjoy a common market and avoid each Member State deciding alone how to deal with an activity that naturally crosses borders.”