The exclusion of private slot machine operators from Germany’s controversial Interstate Gambling Treaty should not serve to undermine the country’s online gaming ban, a top European Court advisor said yesterday.

Europe and Germany are eagerly awaiting the ECJ judgments relating to eight referred gambling cases, in the hope that some clarity will be provided on the legal status of the country's monopolistic, state-based, and often prohibitory approach to gambling regulation.

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.

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 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.

Analysts and legal experts expect the ECJ’s ‘Bwin Liga’ ruling will act to further freeze out those private internet gaming operators still active in the German market, but the country’s state monopolies may await further clarity from the European Court next year before expanding their own presence to the web.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will scrutinise Germany’s Interstate Gambling Treaty next month, but local gaming operators predict it will still be 2012 at the earliest before the German market opens up to private competition.

Confirmation that German state lotteries have renewed plans to introduce a competitor to the EuroMillions game alongside other national lottery companies has been met with surprise from observers who question how the introduction of €100m jackpot draws can possibly be justified under Germany’s new Interstate Gambling Treaty.

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.

As observers speculate that the consensus supporting the controversial Interstate Treaty is on the verge of collapse in the wake of the ECJ’s Placanica decision, the ruling party in the state of Schleswig-Holstein has introduced new regulatory proposals that would allow German states to licence private sports betting.