Albania wins gambling arbitration case

TIRANA, June 4 – Albania has won another international arbitration case this time against two companies who had their gambling licences revoked and were claiming USD 10 million in damages. The Albanian government was represented in the trial at the ICSID court, a member of the World Bank Group, by France’s Derains & Gharavi. The Washington-based court ruled in favor of the Republic of Albania, with full legal and arbitration costs, dismissing all claims amounting to approximately USD 10 million for lack of jurisdiction. The claims were brought by Albanian gambling company Eagle Games and its 65 percent shareholder Burimi SRL (a dual national of both Italy and Albania) for the alleged expropriation of a gambling permit. Eagle Games had been awarded a 10-year licence to organize instant lottery games for 10 million lek (Euro 70,000) with Burimi SRL financing the deal. The companies had their licence revoked in 2007 after the approval of a new gambling law foreseeing a licence for the national lottery.
French law firm Derains & Gharavi has also been selected by the Albanian government in the international arbitration trial with Czech-Republic based CEZ Group which in January 2013 had its licence revoked because of not meeting contractual obligations. CEZ claims around Euro 190 million in damages while the Albanian government claims USD 1 billion (Euro 750 million) in compensation if the conflict ends up in arbitration court.
“The arbitration proceedings have been formally initiated by sending a ‘notice of arbitration.’ However, this does not prevent a potential out-of-court settlement between the parties,” says Prague-based CEZ Group.
Last May, an arbitration court in the United States dismissed a claim by U.S based oil exploration company Sky Petroleum which was seeking a staggering USD 1 billion in damages for the unilateral cancellation of its exploration contracts in Albania.