Liberal decision of the Commission on gambling01/06/07 / cata_european-union-news
The Court of Justice (“ECJ”) ruled that the Italian criminal penalties for the collecting of bets by intermediaries acting on behalf of foreign companies are contrary to community law (Joined Cases C-338/04, C-359/04, C-360/04 Placanica of 6 March 2007).
Under Italian legislation, the organizing of games of chance or the collecting of bets is subject to holding a license and police authorization. Any infringement of those rules carries criminal penalties of up to three years’ imprisonment. The ECJ makes it clear once again that a Member State may not apply a criminal penalty for failure to complete an administrative formality where such completion has been refused or rendered impossible by the Member State concerned, in breach of Community law.