Austrian Courts Clear to Freeze Gaming Assets Across Borders After European Ruling

A long-standing strategy used by Malta to shield its online gambling sector from foreign legal penalties has suffered another blow. The European Court of Justice has determined that Austrian judges can take Malta’s protective laws into account when deciding whether to freeze the assets of online casino operators across the continent.

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The decision stems from a 2021 dispute involving Mr Green, a major gambling platform licensed in Malta. An Austrian court had ordered the company to reimburse losses incurred by a local user, a directive the operator chose to ignore. When the customer sought to enforce the ruling by freezing Mr Green’s bank accounts in Sweden, Ireland, and Luxembourg using a European Account Preservation Order, the legal battle shifted to how member states handle cross-border debts.

Malta has consistently used a specific legal provision, widely known as Bill 55 or Article 56A, to block its domestic courts from enforcing foreign judgments against locally licensed igaming firms. This mechanism was designed to safeguard an industry that forms a cornerstone of the island nation’s economy. However, the European court’s latest ruling effectively allows judges in other member states to look at Malta’s defensive legislation as a factor that justifies aggressive asset-freezing measures.

The highest court in Europe also noted that Austrian authorities could weigh the past behavior of the gambling operator when deciding on the asset freeze. Specifically, after the initial adverse ruling in 2021, Mr Green cut ties with its Austrian payment provider—a move that complicated efforts to collect the debt.

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This case is part of a broader, systemic conflict between Malta and central European nations like Germany and Austria. For years, citizens in those countries have used strict local gambling regulations to sue Maltese operators for refunds on losses sustained on unlicensed platforms. Malta’s courts have regularly rejected these claims by invoking Article 56A.

European jurisprudence is increasingly aligning against this protectionist stance. Previous decisions have already established that the consumer protection laws of a player’s home country supersede Malta’s domestic gambling frameworks. By allowing European asset preservation orders to bypass the Maltese legal shield, this new ruling removes a key layer of financial security for operators relying on Mediterranean licenses to conduct business across the European Union.

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Source: igamingexpert.com