SOURCE: Bloomberg

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`Obsolete'

Italy's state gambling monopoly said in an e-mailed statement that it agrees with the court, especially with the limits it placed on how much EU member states can control gambling in the name or public interest or to prevent crime. Still, it said the case was unnecessary because the law has been changed and licenses have been issued to foreign companies. Stanley declined to participate, the monopoly service said.

``As regards the Placanica case, it took place in a legal environment that is obsolete, given the new rules introduced this year and the assignment of licenses for 16,300 horse racing and sports betting points, to which all the main international players participated, except inexplicably, Stanley Ltd.,'' the state monopoly said.

Stanley argued its U.K. license should be recognized by all EU countries.

The commission last year started probing 10 EU countries including Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and France for discrimination by barring rivals from offering the same services as their state lotteries. They face being taken to the EU court depending on the outcome of the investigation.

Share Gains

Stock in Bwin, whose co-chief executive officers were detained for three days in September by French authorities, rose 2 euros, or 8 percent, to 27 euros in Vienna.

Unibet advanced as much as 9 kronor, or 5.4 percent, to 177 kronor in Stockholm. The company sponsors a professional cycling team whose members were barred last month by the organizers of a French race from wearing uniforms that displayed Unibet's Web site address.

Ladbrokes shares gained 2.3 percent to 405.75 pence in London. Sportingbet Plc, the online bookmaker that owns Paradise Poker, advanced 2.25 pence, or 4.6 percent, to 51.25 pence. Gaming VC Holdings SA, a Web casino company that gets most of its sales from Germany and Austria, rose 8 pence, or 7.8 percent, to 111 pence.

Questionable Effects

Still, lawyers including Quirino Mancini at Sinisi Ceschini Mancini and Partners in Rome said today's decision may be limited to the circumstances in this case. The court focused on Stanley's business, which ``isn't pure online betting,'' he said.

``Those who will now claim this is a big ruling for the whole online betting industry may be wrong,'' he said. Other bookmakers, including Bwin have a different model and may not directly benefit until another round of court proceedings.

The decision won't have any effect on Germany's state monopoly, said Friedhelm Repnik, spokesman for the association of the Lotto corporations, Germany's lottery.

``The situation in Italy is a completely different one,'' he said. ``They have a partially open market, here in Germany we have a clear state monopoly, whose central goal it is to prevent gambling addiction.''

The court has previously backed gaming monopolies if they're designed to prevent gambling addiction, he said.

Italy had already opened up its gaming market by introducing new rules in July 2006, said Mancini. Three months later it offered thousands of licenses, which ``caused a major change in the whole gaming distribution network in Italy,'' he said.

British operators Ladbrokes and William Hill Plc are just two non-Italian companies that got a license to set up betting shops in Italy, he said.

The case numbers are C-338/04, C-359/04, C-360/04 Procuratore della Repubblica v Massimiliano Placanica, Christian Palazzese and Angelo Sorrichio Placanica.

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