EU top court says gamblers are able to sue unlicensed gambling platforms for restitution

• A ruling by the ECJ weighing in on a case filed by a German resident in Malta could empower similar legal actions across the EU
• The European top court ruled that people who gambled at websites not licensed in their home country can seek restitution for their gambling losses
• The ruling comes after a Maltese court asked the ECJ to share its interpretation of European law

A crucial ruling has been reached in the European Union’s top court recently. A decision on Thursday, April 16, has paved the way for further pushback against operators licensed in a member-state of the political bloc, but not in the home country of the player, opening the door for gamblers to sue for restitution.

Case in Malta leads to a decision by the European Court of Justice

The case stems from a legal complaint filed by a German resident who is seeking to receive back his losses accumulated at two Maltese gambling companies, which were not allowed to operate in the country, i.e., Germany at the time the person accumulated the losses.

In the end, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU law cannot preclude national online gambling bans, nor can it stop a civil action for restitution.

The issue stems from the fact that companies can provide services across the EU, but this ends with areas such as gambling, the court argued, as it is particularly dangerous because of its "permanence of access, the isolation and anonymity of the player, the absence of social control, the potentially unlimited frequency, and its attractiveness to young and vulnerable persons."

In other words, to offer a gambling product in the European Union, in practice, operators may still be required to comply with local licensing rules in the countries where they offer their services. The complaint by the German player was filed in a court in Malta, which sought guidance in the matter from the ECJ and will now deliberate further on the matter.

Forcing collection would be hard if a company is based outside the EU

With this decision, gamblers who have lost their money at platforms that were not licensed at the time in their home country but were available there may be able to file lawsuits against those companies and seek restitution.

The real challenge lies in whether gamblers could sue for restitution against companies that do not have physical assets in the European Union and can therefore be hardly forced to pay if they have nothing material to lose.

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