Hungary’s restrictive online gambling rules preclude the country from taking enforcement action against online gambling operators licensed by other European Union countries, according to the EU’s top court.

In a ruling handed down on Thursday, the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Hungary’s new online gambling regime had unlawfully excluded EU-licensed operators from the country’s licensing process. The case had been brought by the Kindred Group’s Malta-licensed Unibet brand.

In 2014, Hungary proposed allowing the nation’s brick-and-mortar casino operators to apply for online casino and poker licenses, while online sports betting would be restricted to the state-run Szerencsejáték Zrt betting monopoly. International operators protested that the proposed rules were (a) biased in favor of domestic operators, and (b) confusingly written, perhaps intentionally so.

Hungary originally failed to issue a public call for an open tender for online applicants, while also requiring would-be online licensees to have previously obtained classification as ‘trustworthy’ operators of games of chance. Trustworthy, in this case, was defined as having operated games of chance in Hungary for a minimum period of 10 years.