The European Union have included France, Italy and Austria to an ever-growing list of countries they're investigating for restricting or banning foreign online betting and gaming operations.

The EU treaty makes free movement of services across borders and the commission is investigating whether National laws are complying with this. Recently, 2 executives from Austrian online sportsbook BWin were arrested by French authorities in breach of French law. France has a 2-company local monopoly for gambling - la Francaise des Jeux and the PMU

The other countries involve include Germany, Holland, Hungary, Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

The EU's internal market commissioner was particularly scathing of France and Italy - and their excuses. This comes at a nice time for European online operators, already suffering from the US fallout

In a sideswipe at French protectionism, Mr McCreevy questioned how the state could ban European online operators access to the sport and horse-race betting market in order to prevent addiction when "the French sport betting market continues to expand and offer more choice and opportunity for consumers to bet."

France, whose casinos turn over €17bn a year, was separately told to amend a controversial 2005 decree, part of the government's "economic patriotism", restricting foreign investors in key sectors such as defence on public security grounds. It also applies to casinos.

Italy, which banned overseas online betting in February, was warned by the commission that its restrictions on "legitimate" operators were disproportionate - "particularly in the light of the expanding sports betting market which appears reserved to domestic operators."

Article: European Commission threatens legal action on gambling