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Report on EU Impact on Gambling Monopolies Released

DUBLIN, Ireland -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) has announced the addition of The European Union and its Impact on State-Licensed Gambling Monopolies to their offering.

This report examines the most important question in the European gambling/betting/lottery market at this time: whether limiting/controlling gambling has taken a backseat to a focus on turnover/profit in the state-authorised monopolies.

-The European Gambling Market after the Gambelli case - do gambling monopolies still focus on limiting gambling behaviour or will they lose their status as monopolies?

This new report is based on the results of a survey of leading market players and on in-depth analysis of the activities of state-licensed monopolies

Popular sport events, such as the Euro 2004 or the summer Olympics, are the highlights for betting providers and bookmakers. But this may be the last year that state-licensed monopolies dominate the European betting market and profit from the increase in betting all across Europe.

The European Court of Justice decided at the end of last year that the prohibition by some EU states against foreign (EU-based) betting services is a restriction of the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services across the EU. Now it is up to the national courts to examine and decide whether in the various monopolies the objective of limiting gambling has taken the backseat to a focus on turnover and profit; if this is the case, they stand to lose their status as monopolies.

In the current report "The European Union and its Impact on State-Licensed Gambling Monopolies" MECN presents the following six arguments:

1. International expansion is top priority for management of especially Austrian and British private betting operators.

2. For the state-run betting and lottery companies increasing liberalisation poses a real threat to their existence.

3. The most recent court decisions of the European Court of Justice and national courts tend more and more to a liberalisation of the European betting and lottery market.

4. In the coming months detailed analyses will be conducted to examine the legitimacy of the state monopolies.

5. State-authorised betting and lottery monopolies act in some respects - but not in all - much like ordinary private businesses and thus in contradiction to their original mandate.

6. In order to avoid risking a complete dissolution of monopolistic structures the state-authorised companies will have to modify or perhaps discontinue some products, sales channels, and/or marketing campaigns.

The most recent court decisions of the European Court of Justice and national courts increasingly tend toward a liberalisation of the European betting and lottery market.

· 59% of the companies surveyed believe that the European gambling market will be liberalised by 2009.

Currently, courts throughout Europe have to decide whether state lotteries are giving sales and profits priority over controlling and containing gambling - if this would be the case, they are no longer entitled to claim monopoly status.

According to a decision of the European Court of Justice, European state-licensed lottery and betting firms will lose their status as monopolies if their activities are geared primarily toward expanding the gambling market and toward motivating people to gamble. In the current study entitled "The European Union and its Impact on State-Licensed Gambling Monopolies" MECN offers a detailed analysis of the activities of the European monopolies and examines whether one of the last few remaining monopolies in Europe is in fact faced with extinction.

Up to 75% of the companies surveyed believe that in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands state monopolies no longer focus on limiting betting and gambling. But as Martin Oelbermann, author of the study, stresses: "state-authorised betting and lottery monopolies act in some respects - but not in all - much like ordinary private businesses and thus in contradiction to their original mandate" and "in order to avoid risking a complete dissolution of monopolistic structures the state-authorised companies will have to modify or perhaps even discontinue some products, sales channels, and/or marketing campaigns."

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