German regulator stops issuing blocking orders
The regional council responsible for iGaming licensing in Germany is to look at transitional regulations instead of enforcement.
Germany.- The Regional Council of Darmstadt has said it will look at introducing transitional regulations instead of taking enforcement action against online casino and poker operators after an operator challenged a prohibition order in court.
The regional council is responsible for iGaming licensing and prohibition in Germany under the third State Treaty on Gambling ahead of the opening of a regulated online gambling market from July 1, 2021.
One operator had taken legal action to fight a prohibition order issued by the council, arguing that the products would soon become legal.
According to German media, proceedings in the case have now been suspended at the request of both parties and Darmstadt has said it will use the suspension to develop a transitional framework with private gaming operators.
Darmstadt issued its first prohibition orders in February targeting operators who had not applied for a sports betting licence, with sports betting due to be opened before other online forms of gambling.
But the process to award sports betting licences was suspended after a complaint by Austrian bookmaker Vierklee. In May, Darmstadt then announced it would continue to process sports betting licence applications while it prepared to appeal the court ruling in Vierklee’s favour.
While it appears Darmstadt will now attempt to develop transitional regulations, it has been reported that some states run by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), including Hamburg, Niedersachsen, Brenden and Brandenburg were fighting against the move.
Renatus Zilles, Chairman of the German Association of Telecommunications and Media (DVTM), said: “We can no longer afford this permanent blockade, because it only helps illegal operators from Asia and the Caribbean, who are not interested in protecting children, consumer protection or addiction prevention and also pay no taxes. That cannot be the intention of politicians.”
Germany has submitted its online betting regulations to the European Commission for approval.
They include strict restrictions on operators including limiting sports betting to final results and next goalscorer and online slots to €1 per spin stakes and individual states will be able to choose to prohibit online table games or to hand state lotteries a monopoly.
