German operator association calls for more action against illegal gambling

Deutscher Sportwettenverband says more needs to be done to protect the regulated market and prevent problem gambling.

Germany.– The sports betting trade association Deutscher Sportwettenverband (DSWV) has called on the German government and regulators to implement tougher action against illegal gambling operators. Coinciding with Germany’s first Gambling Addiction Action Day, it said the authorities should do more to target unlicensed operators.

The association stressed that all of its members are licensed to offer gaming in Germany and as such have systems designed to protect players from gambling-related harm. It warned that unlicensed operators do not offer such protections. It said targeting unlicensed operators would help reduce gambling harm.

DSWV president Mathias Dahms said: “The black market in gambling and sports betting has reached gigantic proportions in recent years. We were able to identify more than 400 unlicensed websites where customers from Germany can easily register and play, and that might just be the tip of the iceberg.”

Gambling Addiction Action Day is organised by the Federal Centre for Health Education (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung) to raise awareness of gambling addiction. The body has called for Germany to ban all gambling advertising before 9pm due to a rise in ads. Its proposal includes online advertising.

The Federal government commissioner for addiction and drug issues, Burkhard Blienert, said: “Advertising for online gambling and sports betting has increased at an incredible speed. This trend is concerning because hundreds of thousands of people already have problem gambling or are addicted.”

The Federal Centre for Health and Education estimates that there are about 229,000 problem gamblers and 200,000 compulsive gamblers in Germany.

Acting director professor, Martin Dietrich, said: “There is a particularly high risk of addiction from gambling offers on the internet. They are available at all times and attract people with high winnings. The supposed prospect of quick profits makes online sports betting particularly popular.”

German court rules that municipalities cannot tax betting shops

Last week, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that German municipalities cannot levy a betting shop tax. The decision comes after betting shops in the city of Dortmund took legal action over a municipal betting tax introduced in 2014.

The tax, which was intended to be passed on to customers, was initially calculated according to the physical size of the area where bets were processed and monitored in each betting shop. However, the Federal Administrative Court ruled in 2017 that such a calculation could not be used. Dortmund then adopted a flat 3 per cent tax on stakes (the federal government already taxes stakes at 5 per cent).