Germany has finally received some good news concerning the gambling industry. Namely, the Minister-Presidents of Germany’s sixteen federal states have confirmed the third amended State Treaty on Gambling.
Open Road For Casinos From This Country:
This is a positive move for German casinos. Now, the operators will be able to apply for sports betting licenses in the market, while on the other hand, Schelswig-Holstein will have the opportunity to have its own regulatory regime.
On March 21, the legislators approved the Treaty, meaning that these licenses will become active from January 1, 2020 and will last until June 30, 2021.
Approval From The European Commission:
Furthermore, in April this year, it is expected that the European Commission will approve this very important contract, with a plan to beginning the licensing process sometime in 2019.
In the last couple of years, the third amended State Treaty has gone through some changes, even though the 20-license limit has officially been eliminated.
The good thing about this whole situation is the fact that there are no limits when it comes to licensing. They only need to pay attention to taxes, because they will be charged 5% of turnover and in-play betting is not allowed.
On the other hand, gamblers will not be able to spend more than 1000 Euros every month and sports betting is permissible but only vertically.
What About Live Betting?
As we stated in the beginning, this Treaty is not something long-term, hence, many people think that it is going to be hard to forbid live betting.
One of those people is Dr. Wulf Hambach, of leading German law firm, Hambach & Hambach, and this is what he said about the situation:
“There is also big question over whether the online casino ban will be obeyed from January 1, 2020 onwards. If, for instance, other federal states are in favour of online casino regulation, they are unlikely to enforce the ban.”
“I think it’s is likely that after 2021 you will see a fully regulated market, so this one step in the right direction, and there are already a lot of discussions between states, but I think these talks are very fruitful. If you look back two or three years, there haves never really been serious discussions about major reforms [to gambling regulation]. This is the first time that it feels like a major step forward has been taken.”
A Crucial Decision Regarding Gambling Has Been Made:
Hans-Jorn Arp, parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Union in Schelswig-Holstein and one of the State Treaty’s most opinionated adversary stated this change means moving towards something positive.
He, as well as many others, has been waiting for many years for something like this to occur. He thinks that Schelswig-Holstein has finally received what it deserved and that now, it will serve as a perfect example to other federal states to pull the same thing off.
The German association of slot machine makers, Deutsche Automatenwirschaft, urged other states to use the opportunity while the Treaty is still valid and active to create new regulations.
Deutsche Automatenwirschaft chief executive, Georg Stecker, commented:
“The consensus that has been reached is a first step. However, the main goal, namely the much-needed, coherent regulation of all forms of gambling, is still pending.
Only when all forms of gambling, including commercial slot machines, are regulated according to quality standards, can the black market be contained, consumers sustainably protected and legal businesses strengthened.”
Jens Bader, co-founder of iGaming payments corporation, Much Better stated how good it is that there are no more limitations when it comes to the number of licenses given to operators, however, he accentuated that this decision was not as decisive as it was supposed to be, as far as other problems are concerned, such as the legalization of online gambling, poker and casino.
Source: “Germany Ratified The Third State Treaty On Gambling” https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2019/03/22/41594/germany-ratified-the-third-state-treaty-on-gambling/. European Gaming. March 25, 2019.
