Malta’s national lottery monopoly : Is it consistent with European Union law and CJEU case-law? : a comparative study

Abstract

Purpose: The rationale behind this study is to closely analyse whether Malta’s sectorial monopolistic (the monopoly held by the National Lottery licensee gaming structure) is legitimate at the European level. Furthermore, this study aims to closely analyse the factors which make up Malta’s defence in order to keep sustaining such a structure within the EU’s legal framework. This will be sustained through a comparative exercise of the Finnish, Swedish and French gambling industries. These jurisdictions have faced considerable pressure from the European Commission, as they were required to update and keep abreast with their national gambling framework. The major defences for the legitimacy of gambling monopolies which the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has accepted are: consumer protection, public policy and proportionality. Conclusion: From the findings of the study, it has been concluded that the Maltese monopoly is considered to be legitimate on a number of counts. These include the fact that the concession process was of a competitive nature, the relatively small size of the Maltese gambling market and the indirect protection of the players from clandestine gambling.