Table Of ContentCrime, Addiction and the Regulation of Gambling
Crime, Addiction and the
Regulation of Gambling
Edited by
Toine Spapens
Alan Littler
and
Cyrille Fijnaut
LEIDEN / BOSTON
2008
Printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crime, addiction, and the regulation of gambling / edited by Toine Spapens, Alan Littler,
and Cyrille Fijnaut.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17218-0 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Gambling--Law and legislation—European Union countries—Criminal provisions.
2. Gambling—Law and legislation—United States—Criminal provisions. I. Spapens, A. C.
II. Littler, Alan. III. Fijnaut, Cyrille, 1946-
K3704.C75 2008
345.24’0272—dc22
2008045761
Published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
ISBN 978 90 04 17218 0
Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishers, IDC Publishers,
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
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Printed and bound in The Netherlands
Preface
Cyrille Fijnaut
This is the third book to be produced by members of the Gambling Research
Group – associated with Tilburg University’s Faculty of Law – concerning issues
closely connected with the debate on the gambling policies that the European
Union and its Member States are pursuing, or at least wish to pursue. The first
book – Alan Littler and Cyrille Fijnaut (eds), The Regulation of Gambling: European
and National Perspectives (Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007) – mainly
considers the legal aspects of gambling regulation, at both European Union and
Member State level. The second book – Tom Coryn, Cyrille Fijnaut and Alan
Littler (eds), Economic Aspects of Gambling Regulation: EU and US Perspectives
(Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008) – looks at research conducted in the
United States and the European Union into the costs and benefits involved in the
regulation of gambling. The contributions to this third book turn the spotlight on
two social problems: crime and addiction, both of which play a significant part
in the institutional debate in the European Union concerning whether gambling
should be treated as a service that – like other services – should be subject to the
laws universally applicable to the internal market.
The importance of these two problems in this debate has much to do with
the fact that many Member States invoke them – rightly or wrongly, I shall
refrain from commenting on that – in order to maintain control of the supply
of gambling on their territory, and hence also of a large part of the revenues,
by means of a complete or partial, direct or indirect state monopoly. Precisely
because of their political importance, one would expect there to have been
a lot of academic research in the Member States on various aspects of these
two topics in the past few years. This is not the case, however. Certainly not as
regards crime problems related to gambling. Although addiction problems that
can occur in this context may occasionally have been the subject of thorough
academic research, this cannot be construed as a research tradition either. And
since there has never been any internationally comparative academic research
on these two hot topics, it is impossible to gain an overall picture of the research
conducted in the European Union, let alone compare it with the work done in
the United States.
Spapens, Littler & Fijnaut (eds), Crime, Addiction and the Regulation of Gambling, v–vi
©2008 Koninklijke Brill NV. ISBN 978 90 04 17218 0. Printed in the Netherlands.
Crime, Addiction and the Regulation of Gambling
This is why our third international symposium was primarily devoted to the
research that has been conducted in several Member States into the problems
of gambling-related crime and addiction. This choice – as may be clear from the
above comments – was made not only with the intention of obtaining a better
understanding of the approach and results of this research, and hence gaining
greater insight into the problems themselves. Another objective was certainly
to encourage further research on this topic in the European Union, not least
internationally comparative research. Suppose that the betting and gaming
sector were genuinely governed by the principles and mechanisms of the internal
market at some stage: it would be important to know how these problems manifest
themselves in the different Member States and what is done to contain them.
Partly for this reason, the symposium also examined the developments in this
sector at EU level. What policy is the European Commission currently pursuing?
And what stance does the European Court of Justice take these days? This third
international symposium also seemed an appropriate opportunity to take a first
look at crime and addiction problems that can arise in the context of online
gambling and at possible ways of keeping them under control.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the speakers at the sympo-
sium – François Trucy, Erik Vagnhammar, Tilman Becker, Gerda Reith, Dick de
Bruin and Toine Spapens – for their willingness to prepare their presentations
for publication. I am also indebted to guest authors Nele Hoekx, Caroline Jawad
and Stephen Griffiths. Without their valuable contribution, insufficient attention
would have been paid to important aspects of the issues highlighted in this book.
A special mention for my co-editors, Toine Spapens and Alan Littler – this is
Alan’s third time! – for the tremendous amount of effort they put into ensuring
that this book was of the highest possible quality in terms of content and form.
And Lindy Melman, editor at Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, has once again done
a superb job producing such a colourful edition of this book.
Finally, I would like to point out that the organisation of this third symposium
was only possible thanks to the donation made by the Dutch State Lottery to
Tilburg University’s Faculty of Law a few years ago for the endowment of a
special chair in the regulation of gambling.
vi
contents
Preface v
Cyrille Fijnaut
List of Abbreviations xiii
General Introduction 1
Cyrille Fijnaut
1. Introduction 1
2. Crime and Addiction: their Role in the Debate between the European
Commission and the Netherlands 3
2.1. The Questions Raised by European Commissioner Charlie
McCreevy 3
2.2. The Defence of Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner 4
2.3. Commissioner McCreevy’s Unbelieving Response 5
2.4. The Defence of Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin 6
2.5. Placanica, or Unexpected Help from the European Court of Justice 8
2.6. The Questions Referred by the Dutch Council of State for a
Preliminary Ruling 10
2.7. Crime and Addiction in the Proposed New Betting and Gaming
Act 12
3. The Contributions to this Book 14
3.1. Developments on Various Fronts in the European Union 14
3.2. The Developments in a Number of Member States: the
Netherlands, France, Germany and the United Kingdom 15
Crime Problems Related to Gambling: an Overview 19
Toine Spapens
1. Introduction 19
Crime, Addiction and the Regulation of Gambling
2. Illegal Forms of Gambling on Offer 21
2.1. Petty Gambling on the Street or in Bars and Eating
Establishments 22
2.2. Illegal Sports Betting and Totes 24
2.3. Illegal Lotteries and Lottos 27
2.4. Illegal Casinos 28
2.5. Illegal Electronic Gambling Machines 31
2.6. Online Gambling 32
2.7. Loan Sharking 34
3. Penetration of Criminals into the Legal Betting and Gaming Sector 35
3.1. The Mafia in Las Vegas 35
3.2. The Electronic Gambling Machine Sector in the Netherlands 38
3.3. The Problem of Unknown Beneficial Owners 39
4. Improper Use of Gambling for Illegal Activities 40
4.1. Match Fixing 41
4.2. Predatory Crime 43
4.3. Using Gambling for Money laundering Purposes 44
5. Crime in Relation to Gamblers 47
5.1. Crime Committed by Gambling Addicts 47
5.2. Casino-related Crime 52
6. Concluding Remarks 54
The Proper Functioning of the Internal Market: Observations from
Brussels 55
Erik Bertil Vagnhammar
1. Introduction 55
2. Definition of Gambling in Community Law 55
2.1. Secondary Legislation 55
2.2. The European Commission’s 2006 Study on Gambling Services
in the Internal Market 5 6
3. Why is the Commission Taking Action? 57
3.1. Approach 1 – Harmonisation and Something about the Relevant
Secondary Legislation 57
3.1.1. The Need for Clear Definitions 61
3.1.2. The Need for a Clear Scope 62
3.1.3. Transposition of Directives 63
3.2. Approach 2 – Infringement Proceedings and National
Restrictions 63
3.3. Justification and Evidence – Which Problem – What Evidence? 64
4. Final Observations 67
viii
Contents
Placanica: Combating Criminality vs. Reducing Gambling
Opportunities as Grounds for Justification in the ECJ’s Jurisprudence 69
Nele Hoekx
1. Introduction 69
2. Existing EU Case Law 71
2.1. From Schindler to Zenatti 7 1
2.2. Gambelli and Lindman 7 3
2.2.1. Suitability 73
2.2.2. Proportionality 74
3. An Analysis of the Placanica Judgment 75
3.1. The Facts 75
3.2. Disagreement Within the Italian Case Law 76
3.3. The Court’s Reply 77
3.3.1. Licences 78
3.3.2. Tender Procedure: Listed Companies 78
3.3.3. Police Authorisation and Criminal Penalties 79
4. Relationship Between Placanica and Existing Case Law: Is There
Anything New Under the Sun? 79
4.1. Problematic Justification: Reducing Gambling Opportunities 79
4.2. Possible Justification: Combating Crime 80
4.3. Proportionality: Licences from Other Member States 83
5. EU Case Law and the Implications for National Legislation 84
5.1. The Objectives of National Legislation and the Goal of the
European Court of Justice 84
5.2. Belgium 86
5.3. The Netherlands 88
5.4. France 90
6. Conclusion 91
Regulating Illegal Gambling Markets: The Case of Illegal Casinos in
the Netherlands 93
Toine Spapens
1. Introduction 93
2. The Theory With Regard to Regulation 94
3. Gambling Policy in the Netherlands 96
4. Illegal Casinos in the Netherlands 99
5. Legal Casinos in the Netherlands 102
6. Repression and Regulation 105
7. Concluding Remarks 107
ix
Description:This is the third book to be produced by members of the Gambling Research Group - associated with Tilburg University's Faculty of Law concerning issues closely connected with the debate on the gambling policies that the European Union and its Member States are pursuing. The first book - Alan Littler
