iGB: German court throws out player’s case to recoup gambling losses

By Marese O’Hagan

The Bonn Regional Court has upheld a judgement imposed by the Euskirchen District Court on 31 May to dismiss a claim from a player to recoup losses that occurred before online gambling was legalised.

The plaintiff had played online casino games from an operator based in Malta, before Germany’s Fourth State Treaty on Gambling (GlüNeuRStV) was implemented. The GlüNeuRStV allowed online slots and poker to be offered in Germany for the first time.

Gambling Insider: Panel: Germany, loosen restrictions or customers will “easily drop out” to the black market

By Isabella Aslam, Gambling Insider

Gambling Insider was in attendance at the Betting on Sports Europe conference for a discussion on the new proposed regulations in Germany.

The panel, comprised of Dominik Beier, Managing Director, Emotion Group, Nico Jansen, Bet it Best Founder & CEO (through video call), Christian Madlindl, Magic Sports Media COO, and Dr. Wulf Hambach, Hambach & Hambach Co Founder and Lawyer. 

With worries that users may move into muddy waters and into the black market due to tight regulations, in such a complex market, what is allowed, what isn’t allowed, and who is responsible?

The conversation around Germany, and its restrictive and high taxed gambling market, saw the panel of judges discuss what is needed in terms of compliance, laws and marketing regulation.

“Sports betting is fun and if you spoil the game, customers will have fun somewhere else,” said Dr Wulf Hambach.

VIXIO GamblingCompliance: Some German States Will Wait On Casino Games Licensing, Attorney Says

By David Altaner

States may be cautious on online table games Gambling treaty called compromise that fails players

While some German states are planning licensing programmes for online table games and others support monopolies, a third group may simply procrastinate, a Germany gambling lawyer has said.

North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein have declared their intention to hold open licensing contests for online table games, while Bavaria, Brandenburg and Saxony have committed to monopolies.

Then there is a third category of German states that may want to wait.

TIME Law News from Germany

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ICE 365: Germany’s turnover tax puts market in jeopardy

The expansion of online gaming in Germany has been a fraught process, and the legal market’s success will be hindered by a prohibitively high tax rate. Dr Wulf Hambach outlines what is at risk from the turnover tax, and the fight to save the market.

On 23 June, the German Bundestag passed the Racing Betting and Lotteries Act (RWG). 

The Bundesrat bill (19/28400) proposes to tax online poker and virtual slot machines in the same way as other, comparable forms of gambling. By 30 June, the new Act was published in the federal law gazette (Bundesgesetzesblatt). 

Considering the heavy criticism ahead of its enactment on July 1, this legislative process can be seen as a pure masterpiece by their initiators and lobbyists. The main challenge timewise has been to achieve a simultaneous enactment with the new State Gambling Treaty. 

Read the whole article on ICE 365.