The following was published on Major Swedish tabloid Expressens Editor-In-Chief Thomas Mattssons Blogg on 14:th January 2010.Expressen Lawyer is Ulf Isaksson, Aftonbladet’s legal representative is Stefan Widmark. Bengt Ottosson, Expressen’s CEO, and Per-Anders Broberg, Deputy Editor-In-Chief of Expressen are present in the courtroom.Broberg e-mailed about this situation:
”Svenska Spel thrives, but Ladbrokes is not. ATG is OK but not Unibet and Expekt. Today Expressen (and Aftonbladet) fight to have the possibility to publish advertisements for foreign gambling companies the EU court. It is a fight that began in 2003 and now, almost seven years later, we start to see the beginning of the end.
In 2003 the EU court found that Italian betting and gaming regulation was contrary to EC law. Shortly thereafter Swedish newspaper, Expressen, among others, began to allow ads for foreign gambling companies.
The National Gaming Board of Sweden reported the newspapers to The Police. Expressen’s former chief editor Otto Sjöberg was later prosecuted as the newspaper in 2003 and 2004 published ads for Ladbrokes and other European companies.
Expressen claimed that the advertising ban was contrary to EU law and before the case was taken up to review the district court should seek a ruling from the EU court in Luxembourg on the issue.
This did not happened and in 2005 the then editor in chief was found guilty of violating the Swedish Lotteries Act.
Expressen and Otto Sjöberg appeal to the Court of Appeal but the Court of Appeal did not hear the appeal.
Only after the Supreme Court first took up the case and subsequently sent the case back to the Court of Appeal pending a ruling in the EU court.
The hearing opened in Luxembourg today.
EU court must then make a statement whether the indictment and conviction of Otto Sjoberg was justified, a question that basically means a lot to the Swedish gaming monopoly good or not, but for Expressen part is mainly about the possibility for foreign gambling companies to advertise with the newspaper. The European Court of Justice will eventually be the basis for the trial of the Swedish Court of Appeal as the case is later reopened.
This means we will get no actual result today. It’s likely that come summer we will find out what the European Court of Justice Advocate General, Frenchman Yves Bot, proposes, and probably until after the summer, a ruling by the European Court. And then, again, the case makes its way back to the Swedish Court of Appeal.
It is a journey in many ways reminiscent of the Swedish ban on alcohol advertising about ten years ago. As you probably know, today ads for beer and wine are found in many in Swedish newspapers.
Why is it this issue is so important, one might ask?
It is important for several reasons:
• It is important that Swedish players can benchmark odds given by the likes of Svenska Spel with foreign gaming companies offer.
• It is important that Swedish media have the same market conditions as Swedish television channels with broadcasting license in BRITAIN.
• It is important that Expressen, acts and enables all advertisers able to advertise on the same terms as its competitors.
• It is important that a Expressen can continue to have financial muscles to continue to develop content, products and services for our readers.
A media company that is not on its own feet economically is not free in its journalism.”
Written by Thomas Mattsson, Editor-In-Chief, Expressen
