EGBA Pessimistic about Sports Betting Progress in Germany

EGBA Pessimistic about Sports Betting Progress in Germany
The trade body representing most of Europe's major online betting companies European Gaming and Betting Association has expressed a pessimistic view of the restricted market opening for sports betting in Germany as a year has passed and the local developments showed no progress. "This confirms the concerns of Europe's leading gaming companies and the European Commission (EC) concerning the German regulation and its implementation," EGBA says in its statement. The amended Interstate Treaty on Gambling entered into force on 1st July 2012 after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) assessed that the German regulation did not comply with European law in 2010. As per the Treaty, the market is only open to 20 sports betting providers for a period of seven years. Back then, EC expressed concerns about the German regulation referring to the limitation of the number of operators and the Treaty's failure to include online poker and casino games. EGBA now states that the concerns of the Commission seem to have been justified as one year after coming into effect, the new regulation on sports betting has proved unsuccessful as no sports betting providers have been admitted to the market. The procedure has failed to provide candidates with clear, transparent and reliable information about the tender criteria resulting in a number of lawsuits by providers and several postponements of licence awards by the administration, the trade association says. Apparently, even the authorities expect up to 80 legal proceedings from both unsuccessful applicants and licence holders. “Numerous questions concerning sports betting remain unanswered in Germany, despite the fact that the tender procedure has been running for months,” Maarten Haijer, general secretary of EGBA, said Friday. "Even if the allocation is successful, it will result in a market regulation that will bring disadvantages for everyone involved - not only the providers and authorities but also amateur and professional sports and the advertising sector, which are closely dependent on betting providers," Hajier also said. EGBA believes that the EC concerns can only be resolved if the regulatory approach is completely revised or the tender procedure is started afresh. Other European countries admit providers to the market based on a comprehensive catalogue of criteria. Also, the betting licence procedure applied in German province Schleswig-Holstein since 2011 is a good example of regulation. "Germany is a prime example of how a political compromise that no one wishes to disavow can create a very poor procedure. For our members who are active throughout Europe, the German approach is simply incomprehensible against the background of successful European regulations and the continued existence of concerns in terms of European law," Haijer concludes revealing that EGBA is to establish a German branch based in Berlin to represent the online gambling industry. "German customers have the right to receive an efficiently regulated offer that meets their demand for digital entertainment and avoid consumer need to online gamble in Asia," the EGBA statement concludes. The European Commission announced a comprehensive evaluation of the German regulation as part of an inspection of the Interstate Gambling Treaty by 2014.
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