Publication by Justin Franssen and Frank Tolboom: “Dutch Gaming Authority installed ahead of opening up remote gaming market”

On 20 December 2011 the Dutch Senate approved the legislative proposal regarding the introduction of the Gaming Authority. The new independent regulatory body will be operational as of 1 April 2012.

Frank Tolboom and Justin Franssen, both part of the “Gaming, Sports and Entertainment” practice group, wrote an article on the subject, which has been published in the winter edition of European Gaming Lawyer, issue 1/2012. The article is entitled “Dutch Gaming Authority installed ahead of opening up remote gaming market”. The article will focus on the objectives, structure and enforcement powers of the new regulatory body and the potential implications for both the offline and remote gaming sector. … Continue Reading

Webinar: The latest intelligence on gambling law for successful expansion in established and emerging European markets

This is a free-to-download, 1 hour webinar replay.

The leading industry lawyers will provide you with the information you need when preparing for market entry.

• Discover how the Spanish market is fairing as it implements online gaming and establish what your business should be preparing for
• Explore the latest on New State Treaties and understand how they will impact the German licensing platform
• Understand what opportunities are still available in Italy and why you should still join
• Establish the favourable tax regime is in Belgium and potential criticism from land based licensees, so you know what to expect from the market
• Get the latest updates on blacklisting and financial blocking in the Netherlands

… Continue Reading

Germany´s Online Gambling Law 2012: Preprogrammed inconsistency

by Dr. Wulf Hambach and Dr. Stefan Bolay

On 9 November 2011, the 22 year old German Pius Heinz won the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas and is now the 2011 Poker World Champion. Press and media celebrate him as a new Boris Becker and compare him with Sebastian Vettel. Pius Heinz himself explained his success with four years of real money online poker experience in Germany. Schleswig-Holstein politician Hans-Joern Arp points out that this shows the absurdity of the past and current gambling regulation in Germany: Pius Heinz became a German hero by doing something that is formally prohibited in Germany (see http://isa-casinos.de/gaming/articles/34372.html).

The following shall show the legal consequences for the gambling regulation in Germany in the year 2012 in case that the other Länder will not approach Schleswig-Holstein’s Gaming Reform Act.

… Continue Reading

Comment: Schleswig-Holstein v 15 states: the legal battle turns political

by Dr. Wulf Hambach and Dr. Stefan Bolay

The German State of Schleswig-Holstein recently approved a liberal gambling law, ignoring the wish of the 15 other federal states to agree on a new Interstate Treaty on Gambling (ITG), which advocates tight gambling regulation and a limited number of operators. Dr. Wulf Hambach and Dr. Stefan Bolay, of Hambach & Hambach Rechtsanwälte, analyse the latest developments and discuss how this legal battle has turned into a fierce political debate.
One month after the ratification of the Schleswig-Holstein Gambling Reform Act, on 14 September 2011, which legalises major parts of the online gambling market, Schleswig-Holstein’s leading newspaper Lübecker Nachrichten reported ‘a wave of online gambling operators’ intending to apply for a 2012 remote licence in Schleswig-Holstein and already making deals with regional sports clubs such as VfB Lübeck. What triggered this new wave?

… Continue Reading

Kiel Gaming Act gets support from Denmark and from the Liberal Party – Social Democratic Party (SPD) continues its collision course with Brussels

By Dr. Wulf Hambach

Copenhagen/Kiel, in October 2011 – Flashback: 17 December 2010 was a cold pre-Christmas day – whilst outside an icy wind blew around the Kiel parliament building, the conservative-liberal coalition government engaged in a heated debate with the social democrats in the plenary hall. The agitated discussion was triggered during the first reading of the Kiel model act, which is based on the Danish model for the regulation of gaming. It was this path-finding look towards the north which the fathers of the Kiel draft, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) economics expert Hans-Jörn Arp and FPD chief strategist Wolfgang Kubicki, were accused of by the SPD. The criticism in the Kiel parliament was that they had bet on a dead horse. The reason: In autumn 2010, the EU Commission had admitted for examination an EU state aid complaint due to the low taxation of online games in comparison to terrestrial games. In this context, the Danish reform project, which had obtained international praise, initially got caught in the web of the terrestrial casino lobby. … Continue Reading