The player losses saga has taken a turn after a customer was ordered to return their winnings to an unlicensed (and unnamed) operator as both parties were found to violate the Austrian gambling laws.
The Austrian gambling market is a monopoly with Casinos Austria’s Win2Day the only licensed online casino operator. This has prompted players to pursue operators for losses, aided by a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that decreed foreign igaming operators were illegal.
Their contracts with players are therefore invalid and losses should be refunded. The likes of 888 (now Evoke) and William Hill were then pursued by players looking to recoup money lost playing online casino.
However in a landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled claims can go both ways.
Operator bites back Austrian gambling lawsuits
The court did not fully side with either party however.
The unnamed operator initially sought to recover the full amount of €7,162, which was won between May 2020 and July 2020. However, the court ruled only part of the winnings were garnered illegally and the player was instead ordered to return €626.60 to reimburse the operator’s legal fees.
The player argued that the request for repayment was an abuse of law because the operator was aware both parties were acting illegally.
But court documents say gambling laws in Austria did not include protective provisions for either the player or the illegal operator.
“Every contractual partner can invoke the illegality and nullity of the contract,” the court documents said.
Additionally, the player was said to have ignored betting limits and the court did not want to encourage players to appeal against future losses to have them voided.
Despite the court upholding the operator’s appeal, it said it did not intend to protect the company.
It noted the role of regulation was to stop illegal gambling outside the monopoly and prevent gambling addiction.
A blueprint for operator’s response in Germany?
A similar case in Germany is considering whether sports betting operators should refund players for losses incurred before its State Treaty on Gambling came into effect. It was last month referred to the European Court of Justice.
Similar to the Austrian gambling lawsuits, German operators have been fending off these lawsuits for years.
While some claims were ultimately thrown out, others succeeded. The current case, brought against Tipico, has resulted in all claims being stayed for the ECJ to make its verdict. Tipico, incidentally, pulled its online casino offering from Austria in the wake of the 2021 ruling.