Betfair, Bwin and Ladbrokes have won a court battle with the French Tennis Association after the organization attempted to ban online gambling on the French Open and Paris Masters tennis tournaments.

The decision by the Belgian court in Liege has been applauded by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA).  The French Tennis Association had tried to prevent online gambling on the websites of the three firms due to the recent betting and match-fixing scandals which have plagued the sport.  The organisation accused the three firms of being guilty of encouraging corruption in tennis.  However, the court ruled that betting firms don’t “encourage corruption” by taking bets on tennis.

If the French Tennis Association had persuaded the court to ban online gambling operated by these firms at the French tennis events, they were also hoping to impose a fine of 50,000 euros per day for any breaches of the ban.

The EGBA have reported that the judge took into consideration the corporate responsibility of the three major operators concerned and the procedures in place “preventing all anonymous bets, ensuring perfect traceability” and concluded that the firms had acted in a responsible and diligent manner.

The judge also paid attention to “…the various measures, notably for the protection of minors” as implemented by Bwin, together with its membership of “ESSA (“European Sport Security Association”) which aims to guarantee the integrity of sports betting offers and to keep sports honest and free from fraud.”

As well as this the judge recognised that the “…simple mention of the name of a sports event is a necessary indication for the online betting activity” and this “…cannot be considered as an act of parasitism since its sole purpose is to let the player identify which sport event to place a bet on.”

The ruling states that the French Tennis Association must pay 5,000 euros per case to cover legal costs.

Betfair’s managing director of corporate affairs, Mark Davies commented that, “We believe we are an ally of sport, not a threat to it.”

EGBA’s secretary general, Sigrid Ligne said, “EU-licensed bookmakers are professionals that have a high level of expertise, know-how and risk management skills.  This has clearly been recognised by the Belgian judge looking at the fact based evidence to dismiss all the claims in this case.”

Bwin believe they have been damaged by this court case despite the outcome going in their favour.  The online sportsbook will be attempting to sue the French Tennis Association in the Paris high court to the tune of 1 million euros.  This is because of the damage to its reputation the association has caused by implying that they facilitate fraud. 

Print version