Ladbrokes plc today responded to the Advocate General's opinion on its case relating to Dutch gaming law. Since 2002 Ladbrokes has been appealing an injunction imposed by the Dutch courts that prevents it from accepting bets from Dutch citizens on Ladbrokes.com. In June last year the case was referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
 

The opinion from the Advocate General is not binding on the Court of Justice which will give a ruling on the case next year.

Ladbrokes' Managing Director of Remote Betting and Gaming, John O'Reilly commented: "The opinion given by the Advocate General seems to assume the Dutch courts have already applied a full test of whether the introduction of new games and advertising by the Dutch Monopoly constitutes an excessive enticement to gamble. However the Dutch courts have applied no such test - a point we made clearly in the pleadings. We continue to believe that the ECJ should uphold principles of free and fair competition across borders as there is no logic in the fact that the Dutch monopoly could freely compete against us in the UK but we are prevented from accepting bets from any Dutch resident that finds us on the Internet."

Ladbrokes also believes the opinion from the Advocate General does not correctly interpret EU law because it suggests that as long as a Member State asserts that its legislation is intended to prevent any incitement to gamble or prevent fraud, it is not necessary to produce any evidence to support these assertions.