GAMBLING NEWS
Ladbrokes wins court case against Swedish and Danish gambling monopolies
Sep 25, 2009
There has been a lot of turmoil on the legal market in Europe this year, Just last week Bwin lost a case in EU court against the Portuguese monopoly La Santa de Misericordi regarding a sponsorship of the highest football league in Portugal that Bwin has been a title sponsor for the last 5 years. A ruling that most likely will set a trend in court rulings for the upcoming future regarding state run monopolies against online gambling websites. Following the court ruling Ladbrokes dropped a case in Norway that they have been battling against the Norwegian state run monopoly Norske Tipping. But in both Sweden and in Denmark Ladrborkes has had some success regarding court rulings.
The two court cases in both Sweden and Denmark has not been from a license point of view as in Norway, instead both of the cases has been about marketing. In Sweden Svenska Spel filed a complaint to the Market court in Sweden regarding a tagline that Ladbrokes used in their marketing campaign during 2008. The taglines was “Swedish games British odds” where Svenska Spel claimed that they were the only ones entitled to use Svenska (swedish) and Spel (games) in advertising. Ladbrokes countered the lawsuit with their own and accusing Svenska Spel to violate the marketing act of Sweden when Svenska Spel used “Svenska Spel is the world leader in responsible gaming” in one of their marketing campaigns. Ladbrokes came out on top in both cases and Svenska Spel was fined £75000.
In Denmark there was a near identical case where Ladbrokes was facing a lawsuit from the Danish gambling monopoly Danske Spill for the same marketing campaign “Danish games British odds”. The Maritime and Commercial Court ruled for Ladbrokes in this case as well and denying Danske Spill compensation.
