{"id":12823,"date":"2026-04-27T10:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/?p=12823"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:09:33","slug":"bill-55-may-avoid-scrutiny-but-intensifies-legal-pressure-on-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/2026\/04\/27\/bill-55-may-avoid-scrutiny-but-intensifies-legal-pressure-on-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill 55 May Avoid Scrutiny but Intensifies Legal Pressure on Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The polarising <strong>Bill 55<\/strong>, often cited in disputes around the <strong>Maltese gambling<\/strong> framework and licensing, could be set to slip the net of legal examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou<\/strong> concluded that a preliminary ruling on the legitimacy of Bill 55 was inadmissible and unnecessary to the conclusion of a case before the Austrian courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That being said, Emiliou accelerated a trend across Europe that will serve to intensify the pressure on Malta, as he remained unrelenting in his criticism of Bill 55, describing it as&nbsp; \u2018manifestly incompatible with the rules governing the recognition and enforcement of judgments\u2019 by Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further increasing the pressure on a region commonly regarded as Europe\u2019s gambling hub, he emphasised that rulings on player restrictions against Maltese online gambling operators issued by EU member states must be recognised not only in Malta but also in other EU states.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the role of the Advocate General isn\u2019t defined in this case, it puts pressure on Malta and increases momentum for the player-reclaim cases in the other direction, although it may also provide a net for Bill 55 scrutiny to slip through.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although not legally binding, the statement of the Advocate General serves as a thorough, independent recommendation for the judges to consider as they embark on their own deliberations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just last week, trepidation within Malta\u2019s gambling sector was heightened as the <strong>Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) <\/strong>backed the view that contracts between players residing in Germany and operators that aren\u2019t licensed in the country are essentially void.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This inflamed the legal conflicts that are currently in the midst of resolution between Maltese operators and a myriad of countries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a preliminary ruling requested by the <strong>First Hall of the Civic Court in Malta<\/strong>, the EU court stated that players could be entitled to claim back losses from operators not licensed in the country. The European Court deemed that Article 56 TFEU \u2013 an EU law concerning restrictions on the provision of unrestricted services \u2013 does not supersede national laws related to online gambling disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cases threaten to usher in legal chaos across markets in global iGaming and to destabilise Malta\u2019s status as the hub for iGaming in Europe, given its licence, which provides operators with a means to operate internationally, whether in the EU or elsewhere, as well as its favourable 5% tax rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to subscribe to our <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/sbceurasia\">Telegram channel!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The polarising Bill 55, often cited in disputes around the Maltese gambling framework and licensing, could be set to slip the net of legal examination. Advocate General Nicholas Emiliou concluded that a preliminary ruling on the legitimacy of Bill 55 was inadmissible and unnecessary to the conclusion of a case before the Austrian courts. That [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1,24,564],"tags":[13892,3178,4852,16261,116],"class_list":["post-12823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gambling","category-news","category-regulations","category-slider","tag-advocate-general","tag-bill","tag-bill-55","tag-nicholas-emiliou","tag-regulation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bill 55 May Avoid Scrutiny but Intensifies Legal Pressure on Malta - SBC EURASIA EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The polarising Bill 55, often cited in disputes around the Maltese gambling framework and licensing, could be set to slip the net of legal examination.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/2026\/04\/27\/bill-55-may-avoid-scrutiny-but-intensifies-legal-pressure-on-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill 55 May Avoid Scrutiny but Intensifies Legal Pressure on Malta - 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