A Belgian court in Liège has handed defeat to the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) in its effort to block online bookmakers from taking bets on its tournament.
The court denied the FFT's claim that Ladbrokes, Betfair and Bwin are guilty of encouraging corruption in tennis. The court also rejected the secondary claim that the bookmakers engage in profiteering by offering wagers on the FFT's tournament.
Instead the court "found in favor of the bookmakers who had argued that gambling is a legal and ancestral practice in sport that has never been challenged until now," according to the Guardian.
The matter is not quite entirely resolved however. The FFT remains on the defensive in a countersuit filed by Bwin in a Paris high court. Bwin has sued for damages sustained to its reputation as a result of the FFT complaint in Liège.