new-online-betting-regulation-germany Before the main corona crisis, back in March, German federal states agreed on new policy that will treat online gambling starting in mid 2021. More precisely, the new treaty is meant to being its full implementation from 1st of July 2021. The reason for this is that the old online “treaty” expires on 30th of June 2021. Online regulation Germany was main concern of the authorities.
For longer period of time, there was a debate throughout Germany, whether online gambling market should be liberalised or not. There were two opposite sites, one in favor for online ban while the others supported the “open” market solution with certain licensing procedures.
Even though the new treaty is almost fully established, the main issue about obtaining online casino licenses remains a bit in shady waters since it was decided that each federal state will decide on its own.
Basic requirements for online gambling license are:
- Security deposit of at least 5 million euros of the applicant
- Different casino offers to be clearly separated (ex. sport betting to be promoted separately than slot machines or online poker)
- Players must have one individual account with actual credentials that must be legit
- Each player must set a monthly deposit limit of max. €1000. The deposit is meant to be across all casino providers in the country.
- Players are not allowed to play at different operators at the same time.
- Advertisement updates. (advertisement must be aimed at 18+ years old and online advertising will be banned from 6AM till 9PM)
There will be some additional requirements and regulations about virtual slot machines. Some of them will be minimal time of playing to be at least 5 seconds long. Moreover, the maximum stake should be set at €1 per game.
Live betting, bets on the outcome of the game or combination of both will still be allowed. That as well, with some special requirements that will need to be met. Furthermore, every sport betting license that was acquired before July 1st 2021 will remain active until 31st of December, 2022.
We give you some of the statements that were made on this topic. Secretary General of European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), Maarten Haijer said:
“The starting position of Germany is so bad that, in 2017, the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) predicted that the country had a channelling rate of only 1.8% – meaning 1.8% of online gambling activity in Germany took place on websites which are licensed in Germany – compared to 95% in UK and 90% in Denmark,”
“New policy can only be effective if it ensures gambling websites licensed in Germany to be more attractive than those outside it. So, customers will play on these websites rather than unlicensed ones. This requires the new policy to meet the customer’s needs by ensuring there is sufficient choice in the market – including brands, products and bet offerings.” – he continued.
The ultimate goal of new regulations will definitely be increasing the percentage of “homemade” online casino sites. This will force many operators to fight for German license thus providing much more “fuel” for German economy.
