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27 gambling matters before the EU courts in 11 countries, 26 decided and 1 pending as of 14 Nov 2026; by body: Court of Justice 26, EFTA Court 1.
The Court of Justice has decided gambling cases since Schindler on 24 March 1994, and the list below holds every one in the record, grouped by the Member State whose law was at issue, with the pending references first.
Most are preliminary references on the freedom to provide services under Article 56 TFEU (then Article 49 EC) against national monopolies, license systems and criminal penalties; a smaller group concerns tax, VAT and state aid; the newest concern the German and Austrian refund claims against Malta-licensed operators.
A pending reference decides nothing until the judgment is delivered, and every pending date here carries its source.
Grouped by the Member State whose law was at issue; a record without a referring court is filed by its category and marked (FLAGGED). Checked 14 November 2026.
Pending references and the next judgment dates
Four matters are pending as of 14 November 2026: C-683/24 (Malta's Article 56A, judgment scheduled for 19 November 2026 per secondary reports, not confirmed on CURIA), C-530/24 (Tipico sports betting, Advocate General's opinion 19 March 2026, no judgment date announced), C-574/24 (Flutter parent-company liability, lodged 27 August 2024) and the Commission's infringement procedure against Malta, INFR(2025)2100, at the letter-of-formal-notice stage since 18 June 2025. All sit within the wider record of gambling lawsuits before the European Union courts.
The Bundesgerichtshof referred C-530/24 in I ZR 90/23 and had stayed I ZR 53/23 and I ZR 216/25 for C-440/23; I ZR 216/25 is now set for a Leitentscheidung on 28 January 2027.
| Case | Referring court or body | Member State | Question (from the record) | Next date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EuGH C-530/24 (Sportwetten, Tipico) C-530/24 | Court of Justice | Germany | The BGH asked whether the freedom to provide services precludes treating sports betting contracts as void where the Malta-based operator had applied for a German concession in a procedure later found contrary to EU law and only received its licence on 9 October 2020. | Filed, pending as of 19 Mar 2026 |
The full list by country
11 countries follow, each with its rendered count, Germany and Austria first because their matters are the ones still moving.
Germany (2)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EuGH C-440/23 (Online-Casino, Malta-Vorlage) C-440/23 | Court of Justice | not in record | 16 Apr 2026 | Judgment entered | A Maltese court asked whether Germany's general ban on online casino games, virtual slots and betting on lottery results (GlüStV 2012) could be applied to Malta-licensed operators and whether contracts could be void with restitution of stakes. | Player Refund Litigation (Germany and Austria) |
| EuGH C-530/24 (Sportwetten, Tipico) C-530/24 | Court of Justice | not in record | Filed, pending | The BGH asked whether the freedom to provide services precludes treating sports betting contracts as void where the Malta-based operator had applied for a German concession in a procedure later found contrary to EU law and only received its licence on 9 October 2020. | Player Refund Litigation (Germany and Austria) |
Italy (10)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anib and Play Game (bingo technical extension) C-728/22 to C-730/22 | Court of Justice Fifth Chamber | not in record | 20 Mar 2025 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Consiglio di Stato (Sez. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| Admiral Gaming Network (EUR 500 million slot levy) C-475/20 to C-482/20 | Court of Justice Second Chamber | not in record | 22 Sep 2022 | Judgment entered | Eight referrals by the Consiglio di Stato (orders of 31 August 2020, among them ordinanza n. | Gambling Tax Litigation |
| Sisal and Stanleybet v ADM (Gratta e Vinci renewal) C-721/19 and C-722/19 | Court of Justice Fifth Chamber | not in record | 2 Sep 2021 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Consiglio di Stato (decisions of 20 June 2019). | Lottery Lawsuits |
| Stanley v ADM (Lotto single-concession tender) C-375/17 | Court of Justice Second Chamber | not in record | 19 Dec 2018 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Consiglio di Stato (Sez. | Lottery Lawsuits |
| Global Starnet (new conditions for existing online concessionaires) C-322/16 | Court of Justice First Chamber | not in record | 20 Dec 2017 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Consiglio di Stato (decision of 4 February 2016) after the Corte Costituzionale had upheld the 2011 Stability Law conditions in judgment 56/2015. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| Politanò (two bank references) C-225/15 | Court of Justice Second Chamber | not in record | 8 Sep 2016 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Tribunale di Reggio Calabria (decision of 28 February 2015). | Criminal Cases Against Operators |
| Stanley v Ministero (Monti tender 2012) C-463/13 | Court of Justice Third Chamber | not in record | 22 Jan 2015 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Consiglio di Stato (decision of 2 July 2013) in Stanley's appeal against the 2012 'Monti' tender. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| Blanco and Fabretti (tax on foreign casino winnings) C-344/13 and C-367/13 | Court of Justice Third Chamber | not in record | 22 Oct 2014 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Commissione tributaria provinciale di Roma (decision of 28 May 2013). | Gambling Tax Litigation |
| Biasci (police authorisation for CTDs) C-660/11 and C-8/12 | Court of Justice Third Chamber | not in record | 12 Sep 2013 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per la Toscana (decisions of 5 December 2011) in appeals by CTD operators refused police authorisations. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| Zenatti (CJEU 1999) C-67/98 | Court of Justice plenary formation | not in record | 21 Oct 1999 | Judgment entered | First Italian gambling referral to Luxembourg, sent by the Consiglio di Stato by order of 20 January 1998. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
Netherlands (3)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EGBA state-aid challenge to Dutch lottery licences: Netherlands loses appeal C-59/24 P (Eighth Chamber, 16 Oct 2025); T-167/21 (Ninth Chamber, 15 Nov 2023, EU:T:2023:723); Commission Decision C(2020) 8965 final of 18 Dec 2020, SA.44830 (2016/FC) | Court of Justice | not in record | 16 Oct 2025 | Dismissed | EGBA complained that the 2014 prolongation of the exclusive Dutch lottery and sports-betting licences without a tender involved state aid; the Commission found no aid in Decision C(2020) 8965 final of 18 December 2020 (SA.44830). | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| Betfair v Netherlands: single-licence renewal without tender needs transparency C-203/08 | Court of Justice | referral from Raad van State | 3 Jun 2010 | Judgment entered | The Court held that a Member State may restrict online betting to a single licensee and need not recognise licences issued elsewhere, but that granting or renewing an exclusive licence to a private operator without any transparency breaches art. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| Ladbrokes v De Lotto: Member States may block foreign online bookmakers C-258/08 | Court of Justice | referral from Hoge Raad | 3 Jun 2010 | Judgment entered | In De Lotto's civil action the Court held that a Member State may prohibit a bookmaker licensed in another Member State from offering online bets to its residents and may order it to block access, provided the restrictive policy is pursued consistently; the development of new games and advertising b | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
Belgium (2)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casino de Spa: Belgium may tax online gambling with VAT while exempting lotteries and land-based games C-741/22 | Court of Justice | referral from Tribunal de première instance de Liège | 12 Sep 2024 | Judgment entered | After the Constitutional Court had annulled (34/2018) and the legislature re-enacted VAT on online gambling, 27 Belgian operators argued before the tribunal de premiere instance de Liege that the selective exemption breached fiscal neutrality and amounted to state aid for the Nationale Loterij and l | Gambling Tax Litigation |
| Chaudfontaine Loisirs: VAT on online casino games compatible with EU law C-73/23 | Court of Justice | referral from Tribunal de première instance de Liège | 12 Sep 2024 | Judgment entered | Decided the same day as Casino de Spa on a second Liege referral (decision of 30 January 2023, received 10 February 2023). | Gambling Tax Litigation |
Denmark (2)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Scandinavian Casino state-aid challenge dismissed T-615/11; C-541/14 P (order of 21 April 2016, Sixth Chamber) | Court of Justice | not in record | 21 Apr 2016 | Dismissed | The Aarhus casino's parallel action against the Commission's approval of Denmark's lower online gambling tax was dismissed for lack of direct and individual concern on the same day as T-601/11; the casino appealed on 26 November 2014 (C-541/14 P); by order of 21 April 2016 (Sixth Chamber, OJ C 279/0 | Gambling Tax Litigation |
| Danish online gambling tax state-aid challenge (land-based machines) dismissed T-601/11; C-563/14 P (order of 21 April 2016, Sixth Chamber, ECLI:EU:C:2016:303) | Court of Justice | not in record | 21 Apr 2016 | Dismissed | Land-based operators attacked the Commission decision that let Denmark tax online gambling at a lower rate when it opened the market in 2012. | Gambling Tax Litigation |
Finland (2)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lindman: Finnish tax on foreign lottery winnings discriminatory C-42/02 | Court of Justice | referral from Ålands förvaltningsdomstol | 13 Nov 2003 | Judgment entered | Finland taxed winnings from a Swedish lottery as income while exempting Finnish lottery winnings. | Gambling Tax Litigation |
| Läärä: Finnish slot-machine monopoly compatible with EU law C-124/97 | Court of Justice | referral from Vaasan hovioikeus | 21 Sep 1999 | Judgment entered | A Finnish prosecution for operating slot machines outside the RAY monopoly produced the Court's second gambling judgment after Schindler: a national rule granting a single public body the exclusive right to operate slot machines restricts the freedom to provide services but is justified by the aim o | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
Greece (2)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CJEU Commission v Greece (electronic games penalty payment) C-109/08 | Court of Justice Second Chamber | not in record | 4 Jun 2009 | Judgment entered | Second infringement action: because Greece had not repealed the Law 3037/2002 ban on electronic games after the 2006 judgment, the Court imposed a lump sum and a daily penalty payment until compliance. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
| CJEU Commission v Greece (electronic games ban) C-65/05 | Court of Justice Second Chamber | not in record | 26 Oct 2006 | Judgment entered | Infringement action against Greece's Law 3037/2002, which banned the installation and operation of all electrical, electromechanical and electronic games, including computer games, in public and private places other than casinos, with criminal penalties. | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
Malta (1)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanleyparma (single tax on bets for CTDs) C-788/18 | Court of Justice First Chamber | not in record | 26 Feb 2020 | Judgment entered | Referred by the Commissione tributaria provinciale di Parma (decision of 15 October 2018). | Gambling Tax Litigation |
Norway (1)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladbrokes EFTA opinion: monopoly only if gaming policy is consistently restrictive E-3/06 | EFTA Court | request from Oslo tingrett | 30 May 2007 | Judgment entered | The EFTA Court advised that exclusive-rights systems may be justified only if the state's gaming policy genuinely and consistently seeks to reduce gambling opportunities, that the marketing and new-game development of the monopolist are relevant to that assessment, and that the national court must a | Licensing and Administrative Court Cases |
Spain (1)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CJEU Commission v Spain (lottery winnings tax exemption) C-153/08 | Court of Justice First Chamber | not in record | 6 Oct 2009 | Judgment entered | Spain exempted from income tax the winnings of lotteries and games run by Spanish public bodies (Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, the Autonomous Communities, ONCE and Cruz Roja) while taxing winnings from equivalent bodies established in other Member States. | Gambling Tax Litigation |
Sweden (1)
| Case and docket | Body | Referring court | Decided | Status | Holding (from the record) | Category |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sjöberg and Gerdin: Swedish promotion ban lawful, unequal penalties not C-447/08; C-448/08 | Court of Justice | referral from Svea hovrätt | 8 Jul 2010 | Judgment entered | The Court held that Sweden may prohibit the promotion of gambling organised for profit by private operators in other Member States, since Swedish law reserves gambling to non-profit or public-interest operators, but that penalising promotion of foreign gambling more harshly than promotion of unlicen | Advertising and Marketing Lawsuits |
Germany and Austria: the refund line
There is no settlement, no claim form, no fund and no claim deadline anywhere in this group: every refund a German or Austrian player has obtained is an individual judgment, and the Court of Justice has only ever answered the referring courts' questions of EU law. The national side is in online casino refund litigation in Germany and Austria.
In 2026 the Court decided C-440/23 European Lotto and Betting on 16 April 2026 (EU law does not preclude Germany's online casino ban or a civil action for restitution), Wunner C-77/24 on 15 January 2026 (a player's action against a provider's directors falls under Rome II) and Mr Green C-198/24 on 21 May 2026 (account preservation orders).
The reasoning German courts apply is in why German courts order online casinos to refund losses.
What is still undecided sits in the pending table above.
Italy: concessions, betting shops and taxes
Italy is the largest group, 10 matters from Zenatti (21 October 1999) to AGCOM v Google (16 July 2026), almost all about betting-shop concessions, the Stanley data-transmission centers and the taxes and levies on concessionaires.
Costa and Cifone (16 February 2012) concerned the Bersani tender, Stanleyparma (26 February 2020) the single tax on bets, and Admiral Gaming Network (22 September 2022) the EUR 500 million levy of the 2015 Stability Law. The Stanley line is explained in Stanleybet and the Italian CTD cases.
Monopolies and licensing in the other Member States and the EEA
The monopoly and licensing line runs through Finland (Läärä, 21 September 1999), the United Kingdom (Schindler, 1994), Portugal (Liga Portuguesa, 8 September 2009), the Netherlands (Betfair and Ladbrokes, 3 June 2010), Sweden (Unibet, 13 March 2007; Sjöberg and Gerdin, 8 July 2010), France (Zeturf, 30 June 2011), Greece (2006, 2009, 2013), Hungary (2015, 2017, 2018) and, before the EFTA Court, Norway (14 March and 30 May 2007, the first date per the Commission's list). The wider group is on licensing and administrative court cases.
Tax, VAT and state aid
Tax questions reached the Court from Finland (Lindman, 13 November 2003), Spain (Commission v Spain, 6 October 2009), Germany (Leo-Libera, 10 June 2010; Metropol, 24 October 2013), Italy (Blanco and Fabretti, 22 October 2014), Belgium (Casino de Spa and Chaudfontaine Loisirs, 12 September 2024) and, as state aid, Denmark (2014, appeals dismissed by order of 21 April 2016 per the record, order not published), France (FDJ, Commission Decision (EU) 2025/892) and the Netherlands (EGBA, 16 October 2025). The tax cases are gathered under gambling tax litigation.
What the Court keeps asking: the recurring tests
Across three decades the Court has asked the same questions of every national rule: whether a restriction on gambling services is justified by consumer protection or the fight against crime, whether it pursues that aim consistently and systematically, whether licenses were awarded transparently, and whether penalties and procedures are proportionate. The recorded holdings that show it:
- Justification: Schindler (24 March 1994)
- Coherence: Zeturf (30 June 2011); EFTA Court E-3/06 (30 May 2007)
- Transparency and seat: Betfair (3 June 2010); Engelmann (9 September 2010)
- Penalties: Sjöberg and Gerdin (8 July 2010, unequal penalties); Pfleger (30 April 2014); MT (14 October 2021)
- Effective protection: Unibet (13 March 2007); Online Games (14 June 2017, Article 47 Charter)
- Notification duty: Berlington (11 June 2015)
How this tracker is built
Every row is a decided or pending matter before an EU court, refreshed on every date in its record and grouped by the Member State whose law was at issue, with the referring court shown where the record names it.
Duplicate records appear as one row. Dates come from CURIA and EUR-Lex where retrieved and are otherwise flagged. The CSV is free to reuse on open data: download the case database.
A docket beginning C- is a Court of Justice case, T- a General Court case, a P suffix an appeal from the General Court and E- an EFTA Court case; joined cases share one judgment. National appeals are tracked under pending appeals and high court gambling cases.
Questions people ask
What did the Court of Justice decide in C-440/23?
On 16 April 2026 the Court held that EU law does not preclude Germany's prohibition of online casino games, the nullity of the contracts or a civil action for restitution, and that playing with a foreign license is not an abuse of EU rights. The case page is EuGH C-440/23 European Lotto and Betting.
Can German or Austrian players get their losses back after the 2026 rulings?
No settlement or claim form exists; a German or Austrian player recovers only by individual judgment, and the BGH's Leitentscheidung in I ZR 216/25 is set for 28 January 2027 while the sports-betting question waits on C-530/24. The reasoning is in why German courts order online casinos to refund losses.
Is Malta's Bill 55 compatible with EU law?
The Court has not decided. Advocate General Emiliou's opinion of 23 April 2026 in C-683/24 found the reference inadmissible but called such a general enforcement bar "manifestly incompatible" with Brussels Ia; the judgment is scheduled for 19 November 2026 per secondary reports, not confirmed on CURIA. See Malta Bill 55 (Article 56A Gaming Act).
Out of scope on this page
Court cases only; not answered here:
- Whether European countries have casinos
- What percentage of Americans gamble
- Whether gambling illegally is a crime
- What countries you can bet in
Edited by the GamblingLawsuits.org Editorial Team. How every case on this page is sourced and checked. Last checked 14 November 2026. Next scheduled check: 19 November 2026 (C-683/24 judgment, per secondary reports).
Last checked against the sources on 14 Nov 2026. Found an error? Tell us and we correct the record with a dated note.