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The highest Italian Criminal Court confirms that the Stanleybet DTCs are lawful and that Stanleybet should be considered as a legal licensee.

Liverpool, 11 July 2012 - Yesterday, 10 July 2012, before the IIIrd Section of the highest Italian Criminal Court (Cassazione), the Court met in camera to decide on the legality of 51 Stanleybet centers and 9 other centers linked to other bookmakers. The ruling was filed yesterday in the late afternoon.

The outcome was the following:

• - Concerning Stanleybet, represented by Counsel Daniela Agnello: all her grounds for appeal were upheld, whereas those by the State Attorneys were rejected;
• - Concerning Goldbet (6 cases, represented by Counsel Marco Ripamonti) and the other bookmakers: all the appeals of the undertakings under investigation were considered inadmissible while the seizures were confirmed; the penal sentence for one case was considered final and was no longer subject to appeal.

Two main legal points are worth to be reported while waiting for the motivations supporting the favorable decision for Stanleybet (about twenty days as starting from today).

Firstly, the Attorney General, addressing the President of the College, clarified that the decision of the Supreme Court, when applying the Costa-Cifone ruling, has a positive outcome only for Stanleybet.

Secondly, the Attorney General, following an in-depth analysis of the issue, concluded that the CJEU ruling does not allow any margin for interpretation and that Stanleybet must be considered as a legal licencee.

After 12 years of judicial battles that saw preliminary injunctions, seizures, vilifications, following three CJEU rulings, two infringement cases initiated by the European Commission against Italy, thousands of releases from seizures and discharges and, in the end, following yesterday’s Supreme Court’s decision, Stanleybet can proudly declare that its line, maintained with courage and determination throughout the years, has always been, and still is, the right one and in full respect of the national and European law.

Today is the perfect moment to start the final talks for the integration of Stanleybet into the Italian Licencing System.

Goldbet and the other bookmakers failed, as well as those who decided not to face such judgment during this important occasion of confrontation and recognition of lawfulness.