European Union Taking Action against Sweden and Germany

Germany and Sweden have taking measures over the past few months to restrict or completely ban online gambling companies from servicing their citizens. For the most part this decision was made to protect the large state run monopolies revenues. The European Union however disagrees with Sweden and Germany's decision and has decided to take action.

The European Union has sent a formal notice in the form of a letter to each country. Both countries have to prove that their current laws are in accordance with the European Union Treaty and if they are not then the cases will move to the European Court of Justice.

According to the EU, Sweden has restricted poker online and live. Their offerings of poker are run only by their government and only offer online poker through Svenska Spel. The letter to Sweden states that they cannot ban foreign operators from offering poker services to their country while they themselves are offering the same type of service. With Germany, the EU is protesting the Interstate Treaty which began on January 1st. the Treaty banned almost all forms of online gambling and formed a prohibition on processing online payments.

The European Union has received major applause from online gambling companies. The European Gambling and Betting Association have stated the EU decision is "showing determination to fight restrictions". The European Gambling and Betting Association represent eight major online firms, all agreeing with the action taken by the EU. Also other firms have showed their agreement with the EU's decision.