Bookmaker News

Accused of breaching the French gaming monopoly, Petter Nylander, the Swedish CEO of the online gaming operator Unibet, has been arrested and held by the Dutch authorities after a European arrest warrant was issued by France!

While Petter Nylander was preparing to board a plane at Amsterdam airport in order to return home to London, he was arrested in connection with proceedings taken against Unibet by La Française des Jeux (the French State’s sports betting monopoly) and the PMU (the French national horse racing betting agency), on the grounds that his company had broken French laws.

Already, last April, Didier Dewyn, Unibet’s former Vice-President, had been placed under judicial investigation for “breaching the monopoly of betting on horse races, other sporting events and lotteries” of the Française des Jeux (FDJ), but was later released on bail of €150,000.

Unibet has denounced France’s contempt for European legislation in this area whilst the French government has recently announced its willingness to start discussions concerning the controlled liberalisation of the French gaming and online betting market”.

The European Commission has also denounced this arrest on the basis of a European mandate as it constitutes a “total infraction of Community law and the principles of the European Union”. It has given France until 31 October to respond to its request to lift all bans on online gaming.