The European Union Court of Justice has ruled that Hungary’s regulations restricting online casino licenses to land-based casinos in the country violates the EU’s treaty for the free movement of services across member states.
The ruling comes in a case brought by UK online gambling company Sporting Odds. The Hungarian Tax Authority found in 2016 that Sporting Odds had breached the country’s regulations and levied a fine of about $13,600. The company, however, appealed to the country’s Administrative and Labor Court requesting annulment of the tax authority’s fine. The Hungarian court then asked the EU court to rule on the country’s online regulations.
The EU court found that the Hungarian online licensing law is a “radical restriction” of EU treaties for the free movement of services across Member States. The court also said that Hungary’s gambling law discriminated against international online casino operators without physical presence in the country and prevented them from entering the local market.
The court has previously issued a similar ruling in a case involving Unibet last year. Unibet had also been fined by Hungarian regulators for providing unlicensed gambling services to local players. The court ruled that the Hungarian Tax Authority could not impose fines due to the country’s restrictive gambling system.
