20 August 2020

Standstill period in the notification procedure for the proposed German Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 extended to 18 September 2020

by Attorney-at-law Martin Arendts, M.B.L.-HSG 

In accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/1535, Germany notified the Interstate Treaty on the Re-regulation of Gambling in Germany (Interstate Treaty on Gambling 2021 - GlüStV 2021), which is to come into force on 1 July 2020,  in the draft approved by the German Conference of State Prime Minister. The European Commission is processing this notification, which it received on 18 May 2020 under the number 2020/304/D (Germany). The standstill period, which usually expires three months later, i.e. on 19 August 2020, has been extended by a month by a detailed statement submitted by the Member State Malta, and will now expire on 18 September 2020. Only then can the 16 German state parliaments adopt the draft.

28 January 2020

EGBA Welcomes Progress On Germany’s Gambling Regulations

23.01.2020

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) welcomes progress on Germany’s new draft state treaty for gambling regulation, which was provisionally agreed this past week by Germany’s regional state authorities. The new treaty, if agreed at the Minister-Presidents meeting on 5 March, would replace the existing second state treaty and come into force on July 1, 2021.

The objective of the new regulation is to regulate Germany’s gambling activity in an effective way and ensure gambling activity takes place within the legal, regulated gambling environment, particularly in the online sector. This will be a challenge given the very low channelling rates in the German gambling market. In 2017, the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) calculated that Germany had a channelling rate of only 1.8% (e.g. 1.8% of all gambling activity in Germany took place within the regulated/licensed environment).

EGBA welcomes the progress made and encourages the German authorities to ensure the new regulation will achieve the multiple objectives of consumer protection, state tax revenues and regulatory oversight of gambling. In this respect, EGBA believes that some of the proposals in the current draft treaty (re: live betting restrictions, limits on advertising and curbs on player account activity) would be detrimental and counterproductive to the intentions of the regulation and we urge the authorities to reconsider their approach.

This is a positive development towards bringing Germany’s gambling regulation into the 21st century. The challenge will be to deliver a new regulation which is fit for the digital age we live in, which provides a safer gambling environment for consumers and enables a well-regulated and well-channelled market. We look forward to providing formal comments to the proposals in due course and continuing a constructive dialogue with the German authorities.” – Maarten Haijer, Secretary General.

Press release of EGBA

02 January 2020

The 3rd Amendment to the German Interstate Treaty on Gambling came into force at the beginning of the year

by Attorney-at-Law Martin Arendts, ARENDTS ANWÄLTE

The 3rd Amendment to the German Interstate Treaty on Gambling (3. GlüÄndStV), which now provides for the awarding of sports betting licenses without numerical restrictions, entered into force on 1 January 2020 as planned. The ratification documents of all federal states have been deposited with the State Chancellery of the Chairman of the Prime Ministers Conference by the end of 2019. From 2 January 2010, the Regional Authority of Darmstadt (Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt) will process the approval applications for the organization of sports betting for the state of Hesse (and thus also for the other 15 German states). The concessions are to be awarded in groups, i.e. on several applicants at the same time. The first concessions are not expected to be awarded before the end of February, as only then will the gambling board meet. However, the licenses are only valid until the end of June 2021 (the expiry of the current Interstate Treaty on Gambling).

Link to the official tender document:
https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:622736-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=0