Europe’s online gambling sector can expect to receive further legal guidance from the European Court of Justice in the run-up to Christmas after it was confirmed that Advocate General Bot will deliver his lead opinion on the Betfair and Ladbrokes challenges against Holland’s De Lotto on December 17.

In the wake of the ECJ's Bwin Liga decision, Advocate General Bot recently released his opinion on cases involving the challenges to Dutch sports betting restrictions launched by the UK’s Betfair and Ladbrokes.

European Court advisors yesterday reaffirmed the broad right of EU member states to maintain state monopolies over gambling, despite raising question marks over ‘discriminatory’ restrictions in Austria and Sweden.

Voicing concerns over the player protection risks associated with internet gambling, the Advocate General in a high-profile ECJ case said that a state monopoly in online sports betting is not invalidated where an EU member state allows private companies to operate in other gambling sectors such as land-based casinos and slot machines.

With Europe’s online gambling sector awaiting a formal opinion on the legality of Dutch gambling policy tomorrow, the ECJ has confirmed that Swedish rules on online gambling will be next in line for scrutiny before Europe’s top court in the New Year.

The European Court of Justice held further oral proceedings related to cross-border gambling last week, with preliminary opinions on three separate cases from both Austria and Sweden due to be published in late February.

Upon the judges’ specific invitation, participants at this week’s public European Court of Justice hearing on Bwin and the Portuguese Football League’s challenge to the betting monopoly held by Portugal’s Santa Casa agreed that EU Member States must be consistent in their application of restrictive gambling policies. However, representatives from all but Bwin were adamant that the critical ‘consistency requirement’ must be applied as narrowly as possibly, and not across sub-sectors of the gambling industry.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will hand down its long-awaited decision on Bwin’s challenge to the Portuguese sports betting monopoly in early September.

The European Commission has indicated it may take the Portuguese Government to the European Court of Justice over Portugal’s differential tax regime for foreign and domestic lottery winnings. The Commission’s action comes as Portugal’s national lottery awaits a key ECJ opinion next month on a case involving Bwin.

Although Santa Casa's most popular product remains Euromillions, the operator has recently revealed it has collected bets for €1.29bn in 2008, 5.3 percent less than 2007 (€1.363bn). This noticeable drop in revenues is blamed on the current economic crisis.