Last week was somewhat important amongst betting operators in good old Germany, since its 16 state ministers agreed and officially published the number of sports betting licenses that will be permitted in the country. The regulations of the gambling market over there has been in a bit of a pickle since it was declared illegal under European Union laws. It has been rumoured that there are even proceedings in the happening against the country by the EU commission.
To bring things into perspective, in 2014 only twenty sport betting licenses were awarded but even those never came to fruition since the applicants eventually failed to comply with regulations. Now after their last meeting, it has been agreed to increase the number twofold – to 40 in total. That means that all applicants (which so far are even below that number – a humble 35), if they were to meet all the requirements in the licensing process, will be automatically granted the permission to offer sports betting in Germany. Don’t get too happy just yet, poker and casino games are not included in the package. So hopeful Germans will have to still wait and see if (and when) they will be able to benefit from a wider range of services.
History proves that this is achievable – to take 2012 as an example – it was an ïnteresting year for German gambling, when the existing gambling regulation from 2008 was replaced by the new “Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2012”. The new law was criticized widely in the EU on the grounds of monopoly for games of chance and the general ban on online gambling. This was the case under the previous gambling regime as well. Still, since July 2012, the ISTG has been put in place in all federal states except for Schleswig Holstein. To get you in the know, this is an area with nearly 3 million inhabitants (around 3% of the German population). They passed their own gambling law, much more liberal and enabling operators to be granted licenses for most games – sports bets, poker and casino. That would not have been possible at all as the remaining 15 federal states are not permitted to legislate online casino and poker games and can only give away 20 licenses for sports. As a result, today Schleswig Holstein is one of the most important gambling legislators in Europe. They were even awarded the International Masters of Gaming Law “Regulator of the Year” and are presently the “gate” to Germany’s gambling market for all operators regardless of their geographic origins. To get back on topic – we will have to wait until June this year to see if the amendments in the existing regulations will come into play.
On a positive note and to sum it all up, so far the odds are on the side of players and bookies. So however you look at it, there’s gonna be change and it has to be for the better.