The Regional Council of Darmstadt, the body handling Germany’s federal sports betting licensing process, is preparing the orders to stop and block unlicensed activity in the market.
During this week, the Council received almost 30 license applications, and other 20 operators announcing their intention to apply.
Without offering an exact date as to when, the Council is said it was preparing to issue the first licenses. If all these 50 companies should secure the gambling licenses, then around 99% of sports betting activity in Germany would be channeled into the legal market.
This will be accompanied by efforts to stamp out the unlicensed activity, with all those that have not yet applied for a license liable to be prosecuted. Peter Beuth, Minister of the Interior for Hesse, in which Darmstadt is located, has already warned that the state will not hesitate to crack down on those that attempt to ignore the third amended State Treaty on Gambling.
These are likely to be accompanied by payment blocking orders to stop German banks processing transactions to and from these illegal sites, issued by Niedersachsen.
The Council has contacted around 100 operators to inform them of the licensing process, and to warn that they will face blocking orders should they fail to apply for certification.
This has already seen 10 stop targeting Germany, it said, while it is preparing to launch enforcement action against an unspecified number of others.
While the third amended Treaty came into effect from 1 January 2020, after years of delays and legal challenges, it will only be in place until 30 June 2021.
After this date, it will be replaced by the Glücksspielneuregulierungstaatsvertrag (GlüNeuRStV), which will legalize online poker and casino for the first time, though under strict and controversial conditions.
Discussions on the GlüNeuRStV are ongoing behind the scenes, with a view to finalizing the regulations at a meeting of the state Minister-Presidents on 5 March.
States will have an opt-out for table games regulation, and could even simply hand their lotteries a monopoly in the vertical. This comes in addition to the third State Treaty’s strict controls on live dealer bets – something that many have suggested could push players to unlicensed sites – and a €1,000 cross-operator spending cap for players.
Bodies such as the Deutscher Sportwettenverband, European Gaming, and Betting Association and media trade body Vaunet have each called for significant changes.
