State Aid and Gambling Services

The combination of public goals and fiscal interests collides with the need to harmonise and liberalise the gambling market. Although the trend of market liberalisation is omnipresent, liberalisation is not an imperative. Member States are, in principle, free to regulate these issues, provided that they comply with the principles of EU law, especially competition and State aid rules. The focus of this paper is on the possible application of State aid rules in the field of gambling. Though the debate on State aid in the area of gambling has gained momentum, it has not been followed by a proliferation of corresponding case law. So far, the Commission has adopted only a few decisions, some of which have been challenged before the General Court. These will be analysed in this article. Special attention is given to the controversial OPAP decision, which has been subject to a lot of discussion