Germanys federal states plan to ban Internet gambling
German states set to ban Internet gambling……If so, gambling companies plan to leave the country.
Germanys federal states plan to ban Internet gambling, according to draft
documents to be discussed by the countrys state premiers on Wednesday. Reports in the
German media are suggesting that Germanys states will meet this week to outline plans
for banning Internet gambling in the country.
Despite pressure from the European Commission to open up Europes gambling market to
competition, ministers from most states want to sign off on new rules aimed at
protecting their lucrative monopoly as lottery operators, said Handelsblatt.
German lottery company Fluxx AG has joined fellow online compatriots Tipp24 AG in saying
that it may have to abandon its native market if the countrys 16 states pass a new law
effectively banning private operators. Fluxxs CFO Stefan Haenel said that the company
would not give up on Germany without a fight, but warned that it would be going to use
opportunities outside the country.
It was also reported that the mainly private firms, such as Tipp24 and Fluxx, would be
granted a one-year transition period. The ministers will meet in Berlin on Wednesday
morning.
The state of Saxony and two other states imposed a ban earlier this year on commercial
betting. That was directed mainly at Austrian Internet betting firm bwin.com whose
German unit is the countrys biggest commercial bookmaker. Bwin and its peers are facing
increasingly stringent regulations in the United States and Europe, where governments
are curbing Internet gambling to protect customers and state-run lotteries.
The European Unions commissioner for internal markets and services has already said
that the current German state monopoly breaches EU law and said that the government
needs to pass laws that apply to everyone, both private companies and state-run gambling operations, equally.
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