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After several years of disputes, the Italian Supreme Administrative Court (the “Consiglio di Stato“) has issued a preliminary ruling in favour of Stanley International ordering the reopening of Stanley’s betting outlets in Italy.
Indeed, since 1994 Stanley International has been running in Italy betting outlets involved in the offer of betting services in absence of an Italian gaming licence. Italian authorities had ordered the closure of such outlets for the breach of Italian gaming laws which require an Italian gaming license for each betting outlet. However, the Italian Supreme Administrive Court, making reference to the decisions of the European Court of Justice concerning the Gambelli and Placanica cases, held that, in compliance with the EU principle of freedom of services, Stanley International was entitled to open and run betting outlets in Italy under its UK gaming licence without the need of obtaining an additional Italian gaming licence.
This decision has been highly criticised by other gaming operators and by the Italian gaming authority whose director stressed that the decision is a mere preliminary ruling and the court did not take into account the recent legislative developments which obtained the approval by the EU Commission.
