Disputes over gambling online have lasted for years and today they are finally over. Heads of all sixteen federal states were able to come to agreement that regulation of online casino industry should be improved. New laws will satisfy more European norms and requirements.
Basically, the conference resulted in the decision to create new agency which will allow licensing of gambling online operators. Now all German federal states will work on changing existing gambling regulations which took effect in 2012. Experience shows that current laws are absolutely ineffective and aren’t able to create necessary conditions to run business.
Laws introduced several years ago limit the number of online casino operators which have the right to get licensed to offer gambling online services. There could be no more than 20 licensed operators. By the way, this fact was most negatively perceived by European agencies, online casinos and other parties involved in this gambling online business. Administrative Chamber stated that Germany broke EU norm regarding freedom of provision of services. If we consider that German market is one of the most profitable and famous, it becomes obvious why limited amount of licenses caused negative reaction of those related to online casino industry.
German government tried to keep its initial plan without implementing significant changes and just doubled the number of licenses. But never-ending series of litigations forced government to find another solution. As a result, in the future unlimited number of online casino operators will have the right to get a license and will enjoy lower barriers to enter the market.
The plan, which suggested keeping the cap on licenses, was supported mainly by state-owned LOTTO Hamburg. For the period amount of licenses was limited, LOTTO Hamburg has managed to achieve significant financial success. But now there’s a chance that majority or even all of 73 gambling online operators which fought government to get licensed, will finally enter the market and make it more competitive.
