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Abstract:
As the provision of gambling services has so far not been the subject of any harmonisation measures at EU level, it was widely assumed that the principle of mutual recognition would apply in relation to the provision of such services. However, in Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional and Bwin International v Santa Casa, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice expressly rejected the application of the principle of mutual recognition to online gambling services. This article seeks to assess whether the Grand Chamber was justified in so ruling. It critiques the Grand Chamber's findings and notes the contradiction between the Grand Chamber's judgment and the First Chamber's subsequent judgment in Commission v Spain. It also discusses how the judgment risks negatively impacting not only upon ongoing developments in the gambling sector at both European and national level but upon the application of the mutual recognition principle more generally.
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