According to the OGH ruling, an Austrian court can demand money from a Maltese casino bank, as stated in a release by the litigation financier Jufina. If the bank refuses, the plaintiff can resort to the bank's deposits at the European Central Bank (ECB).

In Austria, some companies with Maltese licenses offer online gambling. According to Austrian law, this is illegal, as only the Casinos Austria subsidiary Win2day has a recognized license in Austria. Reclaiming money from the Maltese providers has not been successful so far because a Maltese law protects the Maltese providers. Following the OGH ruling (3Nc72/24d), an enforcement judgment directly from Austrian courts against those Maltese bank accounts, where the Maltese casinos store their Austrian profits, is possible. Previously, a judgment from a Maltese court was required, which was refused due to the legal situation in Malta.

Access to ECB Deposits as a Solution

Thus, a victim demanded the payment of a claim of 27,000 euros from a bank based on a judgment from the Salzburg District Court. After the bank did not execute this claim for four weeks, affected parties can directly sue the non-paying bank. Once they win the case, Austrian courts could demand repayment through the Bank of Valletta's deposits at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. This would make German authorities responsible for enforcement.

Jufina board member Stefan Schleicher commented: "Now we can bypass the Maltese courts and obtain Austrian enforcement judgments. This brings these proceedings back into the realm of European rule of law." Schleicher is "confident that Germany would reliably execute the Austrian judgments. Thus, we have found a way to bring the illegal profits of the Malta casinos back to Austria."

The OGH acknowledges in its ruling that enforcing Austrian law in Malta on this issue is currently unreasonable, as Austrian judgments are not enforced and the Maltese judiciary also refuses to submit the relevant law for EU conformity assessment to the ECJ. Therefore, the jurisdiction of an Austrian court is recognized.

(APA/Red)

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