German sports betting body calls for review after regulator’s black market warning

The DSWV welcomed the GGL’s warning amid Euro 2024 and suggested it shows the need for a review.

Germany.- The sports betting trade association Deutscher Sportwettenverband (DSWV) has welcomed the German gambling regulator GGL’s warning about unlicensed betting during Euro 2024. It’s now calling for a review after the tournament due to concerns that the black market continues to loom large.

DSWV forecasts that Germans will bet over €1bn while the country hosts Euro 2024, making the championship “a great opportunity to win back many former customers who have migrated to the black market”. However, it warned that “at least a third of this is likely to end up on the books of illegal betting providers outside of Germany”.

DSWV President Mathias Dahms said: “The European Football Championship not only promises to be a sporting highlight but is also the most important event of the year for the sports betting industry. We are expecting exciting matches and emotional moments and, of course, we are all rooting for the German national team.”

However, the DSWV believes unlicensed gambling may represent up to 50 per cent of the market, which would be the highest in any European country with regulated sports betting. It’s calling for the federal government to review and improve the legal market’s offering.

The GGL has already announced a comprehensive market evaluation for completion in 2026. However, it’s putting a particular focus on the impact of advertising on the public.

Germany’s Fourth Interstate Treaty on Gambling introduced a regulatory framework for online gambling in 2021. The GGL, which became fully operational at the start of last year, aims to evaluate whether the legislation is proving to be suitable and whether advertising is succeeding in channelling players to licensed offerings without incentivising people who may not have been interested in gambling.

The media research group Eye Square has begun a detailed study across Germany’s 16 states with the objective of determining whether bonuses, promotions and adverts influence vulnerable groups. The aim is to inform the creation of a new federal advertising code for gambling.

Subcontractors have been commissioned for an empirical investigation and impact analysis, structured literature analysis and a content analysis of commercials. Meanwhile, an independent panel featuring Dr Markus Heinker, president of the Media Council of the Saxon State Media Authority, and Christian Krebs, director of the Lower Saxony State Media Authority, will analyse the “entire scope of the scientific discourse”.