The new Joint Gambling Authority of the Federal States (Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder - GGL) has taken over all regulatory tasks previously performed by individual federal states in a uniform procedure. After 1.5 years of development work, the newly created authority has become responsible for supervising and approving online gambling offers on behalf of all 16 federal states as of January 1, 2023, and has already been responsible for combating illegal gambling since July 1, 2022.
During the press conference on January 10 to mark the launch of the authority, the board members explained that all the prerequisites and structures have been created to bundle the necessary competencies and resources across the states in a single hand. Ronald Benter, board member of GGL, said: "We are well prepared and ready to work. With the GGL, Germany is getting a central supervisory and enforcement authority for Internet gambling for the first time." As of January 1, GGL employs 75 people, and the authority is expected to grow to 104 employees over the course of the year.
Ronald Benter explained where GGL stands in establishing a legal online gambling market, particularly for the new offerings that have been eligible for permission since 2021, such as virtual slot games, online poker, and sports and horse betting on the Internet. The licensing procedures have been completed to a large extent by the states responsible for them on a transitional basis, so that the basic prerequisite for channeling the natural gambling instinct into permitted gambling has been created and the GGL can now essentially concentrate on its supervisory tasks.
In the area of virtual slot games and online poker, almost all of the 78 applications received have been decided. However, only 25 providers for these two types of gambling are on the official whitelist, as the security payments are still outstanding for a number of applicants who have received positive decisions.
In the area of individual gaming licenses for virtual slot machines and online poker, there is still a long way to go. Of the nearly 3500 individual gaming permits applied for, just under 600 had been reviewed and decided upon as of year-end 2022. "We have to state that 100% of the submitted gaming permits are not eligible for a permit," said Ronald Benter. "Often it fails because of the simplest requirements, for example, if only English-language game instructions are available. Here we expect better coordination between providers and studios."
In the area of sports and horse betting, the applications received have also been mostly decided, but individual bets are still to be examined by the GGL. Benter: "Our goal for 2023 in this area is to complete all permit procedures, including the gaming and betting review, and thus create an attractive legal gambling market."
Review of combating illegal gambling
Benjamin Schwanke sums up: "With the establishment of the GGL and the bundling of resources, the federal states had hoped for more pressure and more success in combating the illegal gambling market. These effects can actually already be seen."
Since taking over the responsibility of combating illegal gambling on July 01, 2022, nearly 150 cases on illegal gambling and almost as many cases on advertising illegal gambling have been created. In the course of this, approximately 1,150 websites on illegal gambling were reviewed.
Numerous illicit offers as well as the advertising for them have been removed after GGL contacted them. GGL has already initiated more than 60 prohibition proceedings and filed more than 30 criminal charges. A large number of these were taken over and further processed by the Saxony-Anhalt State Administrative Office through the GGL on July 1, 2022.
In addition to the classic enforcement instruments, the GGL is also using payment blocking and network blocking for the first time. Schwanke commented, "We attach great importance to transparent communication with payment service providers and Internet providers. We are also seeing initial successes. A large proportion of payment service providers are withdrawing from business with unauthorized gambling providers. Deposits with illegal gambling providers are thus becoming increasingly difficult to impossible."
Initial positive developments can also be seen in the new instrument of network blocks included in the State Treaty on Gaming 2021. Based on the new legal basis, 6 proceedings have already been initiated against the largest Internet service providers. (See the GGL press release dated October 7, 2022).
The websites concerned have not yet been blocked, as the administrative acts of GGL are still being reviewed by the courts. In December 2022, however, two administrative courts already deemed the means of blocking the network permissible in summary proceedings. The provider concerned must now block access to the illegal offer. "This is a first milestone on the way to judicial confirmation of the network blocks," said Benjamin Schwanke. "The first successes in the area of enforcement and the instruments of payment blocking and network blocks show that we are on the right track with our approach. What is completely clear, however, is that there is still a very long way to go."
Goals for 2023
The GGL's focus as a supervisory authority is to consistently monitor licensed providers for all types of gambling on the Internet that are eligible for a permit. "We will revoke permits again if we find serious violations," says Ronald Benter. "Because our goal is a level playing field for all providers. We want to ensure that the business model of offering illegal or non-compliant gambling on the Internet is not profitable in the long term." "We will also take a consistent approach to enforcement: Any provider not on the whitelist will be picked up, no matter how big it is," Schwanke adds. In this regard, GGL supports the goal of establishing a focal prosecutor's office in Halle (Saale) to enable rapid enforcement against unauthorized gambling providers.
Another important topic for the next year will also be to create transparency for players about which player protection measures must be adhered to by providers, such as the panic button.
The further development of addiction prevention, particularly with regard to an agreement on early detection systems for gambling addiction, as well as market monitoring and the awarding of research contracts, are also goals for 2023.
