Top EU Betting Sites

Oct 30, 2019 / by Winer PR / In Uncategorized / Leave a comment

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Below, we set out the legal status of internet gambling in the four biggest European betting regions: France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
As you will see, every nation takes a legalize-and-regulate approach to internet sports betting. But some are far more liberal and flexible with their licensing plan than others, which seriously affects the number of legal options available to bettors.
The table below briefly summarizes the position in each country. The ensuing sections provide more detailed descriptions.
COUNTRY IS ONLINE SPORTS BETTING LEGAL? ARE ONLINE BOOKMAKERS REQUIRED TO HAVE A LICENSE? IS IT SMART/SAFE TO USE AN UNLICENSED SITE? DO ONLINE BETTORS HAVE TO PAY TAX ON WINNINGS?
France Yes Yes No Yes. If more than 1,500
Germany Yes Sort of Maybe No
Ireland Yes Yes No No, except for”professionals”
Italy Yes Yes No No
Netherlands Yes, but barely Yes , but it’s withheld by the operator
Spain Yes Yes No Yes, if over $2,500
Sweden Yes Yes Maybe No, as long as the sportsbook is licensed in EU
France
Online sports gambling is legal but heavily regulated in France. To lawfully offer sports wagers to French residents, a gambling sitemust be accredited by the ARJEL (Autorit?? de r??gulation des jeux en ligne, which appropriately translates to”Regulatory Authority for Online Games”).
Considering that the French government places substantial tax burdens on operators, so several internet sites register in different jurisdictions and yet still try to supply their services to people in France.
Under the current legislative framework, this is considered illegal. Even if an internet sportsbook has a permit in a foreign jurisdiction, say Gibraltar, it cannot legally offer sports-betting services to the French public with no permit in the ARJEL.
This is the case in many regions of the world. However, the French governments are somewhat more proactive in policing it than many, going so far as to block access to specific websites from inside France.
[Though] the only act of placing a bet for an unlicensed sportsbook might not be prohibited under French legislation… using an unlicensed sportsbook nevertheless includes a number of risks.
It must be noted that, like in the US, the mere act of placing a wager for an unlicensed sportsbook may not be prohibited under French law. The laws tend to target online gambling providers rather than the individual bettors.
However, employing an unlicensed sportsbook nevertheless includes numerous dangers. You cannot be sure that unlicensed sites will remain accessible from within France. The government may take action to block access and effectively shut-down their existence in the nation at any moment, since it’s operating illegally.
Because of this, the safest route for sports bettors in France is to use a licensed sportsbook.
Figuring out which sites are accredited and which are not is simple. The ARJEL maintains an updated list of all of the licensees on its own site: http://www.arjel.fr/-Liste-des-operateurs-agrees-.html.
The ARJEL maintains an updated list of all the licensees on its site.
The website is in French, of course, but if you are using an internet browser such as Chrome, then it is simple to interpret the page to English. (While the grammar will not be perfect, you will have the ability to decipher the vital elements.)
If (when?) Your sports-betting efforts prove profitable in France, bear in mind that all over $1,500 must be declared as income and, as such, is taxable. According to rgweek.com, online gambling is redeemed at around 9%.
Germany
The legal standing of online sports gambling in Germany is in a state of flux and has been for some time. The German government has sought to heavily regulate the marketplace and, in 2012, passed an amended Interstate Treaty on Gambling, which banned online betting (and online gambling in all its forms) except for those offered by the government or accredited by the regulatory authorities. (This law was really a comfort of an earlier legislation, which did not even permit for licenses and effectively made a state monopoly.)
The law came under siege nearly as fast as it came in to effect. Importantly, the EU’s Court of Justice has ruled that the law impermissibly limits online gambling websites based/licensed from different countries from offering their services to Germans.
[T]he EU’s Court of Justice has ruled that [Germany’s online betting law] impermissibly limits online websites based/licensed from different countries from offering their solutions to Germans.
The German government reacted by amending the law, but only marginally, and said amendment has not come into force. The amended law could simply increase the amount of licenses that the authorities could grant; it would not offer overseas sportsbooks carte blanche to operate in Germany. It remains to be seen whether such a law — if it comes into force — would be deemed an acceptable limitation by the courts.
What Germany is currently left with is essentially a garbage heap of legislation pertaining to internet sports gambling. The laws on the books need sportsbooks to possess a permit to operate legally, but the laws themselves (along with the licensing procedure they create) are deemed impermissible by the EU courts.
In practice, a number of foreign-based sports-betting websites continue to operate in Germany (meaning they continue to take German bettors and are still accessible from within Germany’s borders). Unlike in France, where the authorities have obtained a hands-on method of restricting access to unlicensed online operators, the German government doesn’t appear to be actively trying to prevent these foreign sportsbooks from working in Germany, probably because of the state of the present laws.
As the International Comparative Legal Guides’ 2017 paper on Germany says,”[T]he licensing procedure for… sports gambling licenses… continues to be held incompatible with EU legislation… Criminal proceedings have… rarely been pioneered. … German enforcement authorities… have been reluctant to enforce gaming law offenses, 1 explanation for this probably being that German gambling law has been characterised by legal doubt due to it facing severe criticism in light of EU law for decades now.
In relation to sports gambling… any enforcement actions brought against sports gambling operators in a circumstance where a criminal de facto monopoly persists (as held to be the case in Germany) is incompatible with EU law.”
[I]n the rare cases when [German] governments do prosecute breaches of gaming laws, it is the operator that is held accountable, not the bettor.
The paper also notes , in the rare instances when the authorities do prosecute breaches of gaming laws, it is the operator that is held liable, not the bettor.
The final result is that Germans can feel very safe — from the country authorities, at least when it comes to using online gaming websites, whether those are licensed in Germany or elsewhere.
Selecting the Very Best and most-secure sportsbook in Germany doesn’t come down to if It’s licensed, but will rather be determined by a Large Number of other factors, such as:
A record of timely payments
A standing for anonymity and safety Accessible and easy-to-use help sections A huge variety of deposit and withdrawal procedures Strong customer service representation
A wide choice of sports markets to bet on.
Regarding taxation, just winnings from the state-run websites are taxed. Due to this disorganized and muddled legal program that now exists, there does not seem to be any procedure set up for taxing winnings from private online sportsbooks.
Ireland
Like most European countries, Ireland regulates online sports gambling through a licensing strategy. The Betting Act 2015 is the relevant law right now, and provides that anybody looking to give bookmaking or gambling services to people in Ireland must be given a permit by the Revenue Commissioners, which double as the Irish taxation support.
Just like any regulatory strategy, this has benefits and disadvantages for the general people. The simple fact that sportsbooks have to pay tax and proceed through the bureaucratic hoops of acquiring a permit contributes to things like greater juice on the opposite end.
However, the licensing system also guarantees that only legitimate sportsbooks offer their services to Irish residents.
How?
Under the current legal framework, the officers of this company applying for a permit must, inter alia, obtain certificates of personal fitness.
Additionally, licenses are only granted for a couple of years at one time and, as stated by the ICLG, among the factors that the Revenue Commissioners believe during renewal software is if the sportsbook has paid its debts. That’s vital, as bettors cannot sue sportsbooks for outstanding debts in Ireland, or vice versa. (Gambling debts are generally unenforceable.) The licensing system provides an impetus for sportsbooks to function on the up-and-up.
As with most countries, the penalties for unlicensed sports betting fall almost exclusively on the operators. But Irish punters are well-advised to abide by licensed books, nonetheless. Whether an online betting site is offering its solutions to Irish bettors with no license, there is going to be a concerning reason for this. Either it doesn’t wish to pay the $10,000 permit fee, it doesn’t want to pay the applicable tax, its application was declined, etc.. Whatever the reason, it contributes to serious questions about the sportsbook’s validity and/or fiscal health.
When it comes to taxation on gambling winnings, the typical Irish better can rest easy. Just professional gamblers have to pay tax in their betting profits.
Who qualifies as a “pro”? That is for the Revenue Commissioners and the courts to ascertain. Normally, it depends on how much a person stakes, their level of experience, and whether or not they have another occupation.
Italy
Once upon a time, Italy was like Germany, in that it banned all sports betting besides state-run websites. Just like Germany, this paradigm was deemed impermissible from the EU and also Italy’s sports-betting legislation have since shifted (far back in 2006).
Now, to function legally in Italy, gaming websites must obtain a license in the AAMS, the regulatory authority from the country. The ones who do not are liable to penalties.
Quite unlike Germany, the regulatory and licensing system established in Italy has been deemed acceptable by the EU’s Court of Justice as it is a lot less restrictive compared to process the German’s attempted to implement. To get a license, a website must only have a certain rate of turnover ($1.5M within the past two decades ), possess its servers located in an EU member state, meet certain fee and taxation duties, and also be”stable” and”reliable.”
If it comes to contraventions of this legal regime, the laws tend to target gambling sites instead of bettors, and Italians who bet at unlicensed operators should not fear prosecution by state governments.
However, the penalties and ramifications that could be levied on an unlicensed sportsbook would be sensed by that sportsbook’s users, as well.
In accordance with ICLG.com,”[w]here a operator offers gaming without a permit, he could face criminal… and civil charges. The site will be prohibited and added to a blacklist.”
Thus, any bettors who choose to use an unlicensed sportsbook at Italy risk losing access to that sportsbook from inside the country.
[A]ny bettors who choose to use an unlicensed sportsbook in Italy danger losing access to that sportsbook from within the nation. … [T]he safe play for Italian bettors would be to utilize a sportsbook that’s licensed in Italy.
As a result, the safe play for Italian bettors would be to use a sportsbook that’s licensed in Italy. Fortunately, due to the fairly liberal licensing system (which allows up to 200 permits ), there are a multitude of options which offer competitive odds on the most common Italian markets, such as soccer, F1, horse racing, tennis, and biking.
When Italian bettors strike it rich, they get to keep all their hard core spoils since sports-betting winnings are not subject to taxation in the country.
Netherlands
Counterintuitively, the typically liberal lawmakers in the Netherlands have a very conservative approach to internet sports betting. At present, online sports gambling is illegal in the Netherlands except in the websites run from the government-controlled De Lotto business.
Despite the rigorous regulatory regime, many overseas sportsbooks offer their solutions to Dutch bettors. On the other hand, the regulatory authority from the Netherlands (the Kansspelautoriteit ) takes a hands-on approach to punishing offenders and has imposed heavy fines on a number of these websites. As a result, many internet sportsbooks have done away with their Dutch-language choices (etc.) and there are comparatively few online gaming websites that appeal to Dutch customers.
While prosecution of those who bet at such sites isn’t a big concern, the capacity for Dutch bettors to lose easy access to their own bankroll is a huge concern when it comes to using unlicensed offshore sportsbooks. You definitely do not want to sign up with a site and then have it obstruct Dutch IP addresses the next week.
The new legal regime [place to come into effect in January 2019] enables foreign-based sportsbooks to get licenses and, in turn, offer their services to Dutch bettors.
The good news is that the situation in the Netherlands is scheduled to change very soon. A new online gambling bill (the Online Gambling Bill) is scheduled to come into force on Jan. 1, 2019. The new legal regime will allow foreign-based sportsbooks to obtain licenses and, consequently, provide their solutions to Dutch bettors.
This will improve the gambling market in the Netherlands by increasing competition for clients. Up to this point, the government-run entities were unchallenged and had small reason to enhance their product or their chances.
Concerning taxation, Dutch players need to pay tax at a rate or 29 percent of their winnings (over and above $449). But based on Alan Littler of Kalff Katz & Franssen Attorneys in Law,”While participants are accountable for the tax due on a prize, suppliers are required to withhold the relevant amount when paying out the prize”
Spain
Since 2011 when the Spanish Gambling Act was passed, Spain has taken a nationwide legalize-and-regulate approach to online betting, akin to the major European allies covered over. To legally provide online gaming solutions to Spanish residents, gaming sites must acquire a permit from the applicable regulatory body (the Direccion General de Ordenacion del Juego, or”DGOJ”).
This was bad news for online operators as Spain was formerly akin to the Wild West. Despite regulation in the provincial level, it was effectively a lawless land where anything moved and online sportsbooks worked with impunity, regardless of place, equilibrium, etc..
While the imposition of a licensing program has diminished the number of (legal) options available to Spanish bettors, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The regime requires websites to meet certain standards and pay certain prices, which can help ensure that only legitimate sports-betting websites are allowed to function.
As in Italy and France, it is best for Spanish bettors to utilize a licensed site, though the mere act of placing a wager at an official website does not appear to be prohibited.
Why?
Consider the following from the ICLG:
[I]llegal offline gaming has always been duly prosecuted in Spain. But [before 2011] Spanish governments were quite permissive with regards to illegal online gaming operations” But now, those who breach pertinent gambling laws danger”substantial fines [and] the chance of competent authorities suspending or revoking permits in case[s] of significant or sustained absence of compliance.
That means online gaming websites operating without a license are liable to have their own Spanish operations shutdown at any stage, which could, in turn, influence users’ ability to get their funds.
Given the diligence with which the government have attacked prohibited offline gambling, that’s not a danger smart bettors could run.
How do you tell if you are employing an illegal site? 1 requirement of obtaining a license is obtaining a”.es” domain , for example”Bet365.es” or even”WilliamHill.es.” If the URL of the website you are using does not end in”. Es” it’s probably operating illegally.
On the other hand, the converse isn’t necessarily true: having a”. Es” domain name does not necessarily mean that a site is accredited in Spain. So Spanish bettors must take action to confirm that their website of selection has the necessary permit from the DGOJ to operate in Spain. (To interpret that page to English with Google Chrome, follow these directions.)
Last, note that, when bettors in Spain acquire anything over $2,500, it must be declared as income and is taxed accordingly.
Sweden
The Swedish government exercises strict control over the online sports-betting market. In theory, any corporation can receive a license to offer online betting products to individuals in Sweden. However, in practice, just 1 thing has been granted a license, and that’s the government-run Svenska Spel.
As in most jurisdictions with thick bureaucratic barriers-to-entry, many offshore sportsbooks provide their services to individuals in Sweden with no permit. Unlike in areas like Ireland (where licenses are readily obtainable), the fact that a site is available to Swedes with no Swedish permit does not indicate anything nefarious (past the fact that it’s willing to function in a legal gray area). Operating without a permit is the only option they have.
That doesn’t mean Swedish bettors should signup with the first website they find. You will find both superior sportsbooks and extremely shady ones accessible to Swedes, and doing background research is vital to picking a safe, secure, dependable website that caters to your specific preferences.
In certain ways, the problem in Sweden is akin to this in the Netherlands. However, the Dutch regulatory body requires a more hands-on approach to punishing unlicensed sportsbooks. According to a newspaper by Erik Ullberg et al. in The Law Reviews, Swedish governments are more inclined to go after the Swedish-based Businesses that aid unlicensed sportsbooks compared to sportsbooks themselves:
As the authorities do not have jurisdiction over the offshore gambling operators, they have rather focused on people in Sweden who carry advertisements for these businesses.
The outcome is that Swedish bettors who sign up at unlicensed offshore sportsbooks are not putting their bankroll at any real risk, unlike their counterparts in the Netherlands, {as long as|pro

Top EU Betting Sites

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