Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 15 January 2026 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof – Austria) – NM, OU v TE

(Case C-77/24,  (1) Wunner  (2) )

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Judicial cooperation in civil matters - Law applicable to non-contractual obligations - Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 - Article 4(1) - Scope - Liability in tort or delict of an officer of a company that organises online games of chance without holding the required licence - Action for the recovery of gambling losses - Place where the damage occurred)

(C/2026/1175)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Oberster Gerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants in the appeal on a point of law: NM, OU

Respondent in the appeal on a point of law: TE

Operative part of the judgment

1.

Article 1(2)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations must be interpreted as meaning that an action seeking to establish tortious liability, aimed at the directors of a company, for infringement of a prohibition imposed by national legislation on offering games of chance to the public without holding a licence for that purpose is not covered by the category of non-contractual obligations arising out of the law of companies, within the meaning of that provision.

2.

Article 4(1) of Regulation No 864/2007 must be interpreted as meaning that, in the context of an action for damages for losses incurred when participating in online games of chance offered by a company in a Member State in which that company did not hold the required licence, the damage sustained by a player must be deemed to have occurred in the Member State in which that player is habitually resident.

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(1)  OJ C, C/2024/3055.

(2)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any of the parties to the proceedings.