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Under
European Union laws and regulations, limits to
competition,
even those related to gaming as a special or exclusive
right, cannot be justified. The French Cour De
Cassation, said such restrictions can be used only to
block gambling companies from criminal or fraudulent
activities by channeling them through controllable
avenues.
The
Cour De
Cassation
has added to pressure from the European Commission for
an end to the State’s monopoly by overturning a decision
that banned the Maltese company Zeturf from offering
online betting on horse races in the nation.
Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU), the French monopoly operator
of betting on horse racing, sports, lotteries and other
forms of gambling, back brought a case against the
company Zeturf.
The Paris
court has sent the case against the company to the
appeals court for a rehearing.
The judges
also stated that the appeals court had not sought to
discover whether the French government was upholding the
monopoly simply to increase state revenues while PMU
said in a statement that the debate remains open.
The fact that
sports betting and gambling are State-owned monopolies
in many EU countries and generate large amounts of
revenue for government coffers frustrates attempts by
private-sector rivals to compete for business.
France,
Sweden and Greece have been checked by the Commission
who has been threatening to sue them for blocking
foreign betting companies.
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