With parts of Canada opting to establish their own online casinos, it was only a matter of time before they started weeding out the competition. After all, governments don’t like competition from the private sector. Starting tomorrow, September 24, groups of online gambling sites will no longer allow Canadian customers to download and play their games.

Though more companies are likely to join the ban, so far only Paddy Power, bwin and Casino Club have stated that they will no longer allow Canadians to download and play their games. All three companies use software developed by Boss Media for their download casinos, but also have no-download streaming versions of their games that were developed by other companies. Interestingly, though the online gambling sites explained that Canadians can no longer download and play their games, there is nothing preventing those same customers from playing the no-download games. For that reason, the speculation is that the Canadian ban was decided by Boss Media.

But why would Boss Media make that call? Likely at the urging of the Canadian governments, specifically the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and Loto-Quebec. To shed a little light on the move, Casino Club released a statement saying that due to new regulations by the aforementioned lottery corporations, “online gaming products in Canada are prohibited. Unfortunately we are required to add Canada to our list of excluded countries.”

If the Canadian lottery corporations are strong-arming companies into banning Canadian customers, you can bet that those three companies won’t be the only to release a similar statement. If you live in Canada, you may soon have no choice but to play on the province-run online casinos.

The European Union doesn’t always side with freedom, or capitalism for that matter, so a recent decision by the EU shouldn’t come as a surprise. The EU’s highest court ruled that Portugal’s state-run monopoly of online gambling is legal. Their reason was that the country controls the entire market as a way to combat illegal gambling. Right, if you let just anyone run the business, who knows what they will do?

The European Union court, located in Luxembourg, heard appeals from online casinos Liga and Bwin, who were fined for operating within the Portuguese market controlled by the state-run monopoly. The EU has rules that ensure companies can provide products and services across EU borders. According to the court, though, such freedom of commerce can be restricted if the public interest is at stake. According to the court, “games of chance involve a high risk of criminal activity or fraud” and online gambling has a “different and more substantial risk of fraud compared with traditional markets for such games.”

The ruling opens the door for other countries within the EU to monopolize online gambling and crowd other online casinos out of the market. Currently, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Greece are involved in court disputes regarding their online gambling monopolies. In addition, the same ruling could be used for other products that can be seen as affecting public interest. Maybe soon Germany will have a monopoly on beer. After all, if you let just anyone sell beer, just think of the potential for criminal activity. The possibilities are wide open. It’s a bad time to own a business in the EU. Actually, come to think of it, it’s a bad time to be in the EU at all, for a variety of reasons.

Spain, like the United States, has had a ban on online gambling. However, the Spanish government is taking steps to legalize and regulate the online gambling industry. As the market begins to open up, online casinos are rushing to get their place at the table. Two online casino giants, Bwin and William Hill, are currently under negotiations for licensing deals. Studies say that Spain has a potential a market of 50 million people. Bwin and William Hill want to be the first online casinos to hit the market, giving them an early competitive advantage.

 Spain’s move to legalize online gambling is in response to the European Union claim that the ban on online gambling violates EU trade agreements. The United States has been criticized of the same thing in regards to trade agreements within the World Trade Organization. With the possibility of America legalizing gambling soon as well – with a bill to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) currently in the House of Representatives – you can bet that the US would face a similar licensing rush from casinos. Most people believe that the US would give preference to current land-based casinos for licensing, though it would have to allow some foreign online casinos to abide by its trade agreements.

 Until then, Spain is the new pretty girl in the class and all of the online casinos want to meet her and get her phone number. Bwin and William Hill are the first to start talking to her, but expect the shyer casinos to say hello soon.

Bwin Interactive Entertainment, a popular European online gambling company, announced that it has extended its deal with Dorna Sports, rights holder to MotoGP, through 2010. Bwin had enjoyed a partnership with the Grand Prix motorcycle championship since 2004. The new sponsorship deal will include prominent product placement for bwin, including banners on the track, the pit lane, the starting line and at the podium during press conferences. These banners will be displayed at all 17 circuits of MotoGP, giving motorsports fans plenty of opportunity to say, “Who’s bwin? Haven’t I seen them on soccer jerseys?” Actually, the people watching MotoGP are mostly European, so they would actually say, “Haven’t I seen them on football jerseys?” But you get the point.

Those inquisitive Europeans would be right. Bwin recently became sponsor of the Real Madrid Club du Futbol. It seems that soccer – sorry, football – leagues and racing leagues don’t really mind being associated with online gambling. I can’t imagine the NBA allowing the Chicago Bulls to be sponsored by Bodog Online Casino. Choosing a sponsor would be problematic anyway, because the officials all probably use different sources for when they place bets and rig games to make the Lakers win (Of course, in the old days it was Jordan’s Bulls).

Considering the NFL won’t let their players Twitter or wear Nike headbands or high tops, I seriously doubt they would ever allow the Raiders to have a Cherry Red online casino patch on their sleeve, maybe with a picture of dice or chips. On the other hand, when it comes to the Raiders, any association you can make with their players that doesn’t involve mug shots would probably be a good thing.