GVC Discusses German Internet Poker Prospects

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Wednesday, April 26th, 2017 | Written by Shane Larson

Kenny Alexander, the CEO of online gambling firm GVC, has been reported as saying that he has never felt more optimistic regarding the prospects of regulated online poker in Germany than he is right now. Strangely, his optimism stems from his belief that the amendments recently made to the German State Treaty on Gambling are not sufficient enough to hold up and bring the law into adherence with European Union treaties.

This means that the new laws are considered just as illegal as the ones they aim to replace, and because of this, companies are now relying on German courts to not enforce them, meaning operators are therefore legally able to disregard them. The result of this should result in some form of replacement of the treaty with another that Alexander thinks will include online poker.

Treaty Unenforceable

Germany’s federal states are having a hard time regulating online gambling, with the treaty making provisions for online sports betting, but leaving internet casino and poker sites illegal. Court challenges lodged before and after new licensees were issued have since proved the treaty unenforceable.

These new amendments came about in March after the treaty’s ratification by all 16 state minister-presidents. The biggest change in the treaty came in the form of the legal number of sports betting numbers licenses increasing from 20 to 35. Bwin.party was one of the recipients of one of the first licenses, but Germany suspended these licenses almost immediately, as the change made fell short of making the treaty compatible with the European Union law, and failing to address the customer protection issue of those players having to resort to unlicensed gambling sites.

Antiquated Based System

Commenting on the lack of consumer protection offered to those players who end up on unregulated online gambling sites, Mathias Dahms, President of the German Sports Betting Association (DSWV), explained:

“If the majority of consumers continue to gamble via black market sites the goals of addiction prevention, youth and consumer protection will not be achieved. The restrictive regulations for sports betting are based on an out-of-date monopoly system and are not yet suitable to create an attractive, regulated market.”

Schleswig-Holstein Model

Schleswig-Holstein was the last German state of sign onto the country’s original gambling treaty, with all of the major brands, including PokerStars, 888 and PartyPoker, amongst the successful applicants receiving a license. While each license is current, their term expires in 2018, meaning these licenses will expire as well. The Schleswig-Holstein model was also used as a foundation for a number of different proposals to change the original interstate treaty by Hesse, which acts as the regulator of treaties.

These proposal first came about during a meeting of the state presidents in order to discuss changes to the treaty in 2016, but ultimately these state presidents rejected the proposed solutions, and were not able to get political support for a regulated legal gambling expansion.

EU Commission Unimpressed

The EU’s rejection of the last amendment makes it the tenth time that a German state lawmakers have failed in their efforts to devise a legal internet gambling framework, and this process is simply unsustainable. Furthermore, if an EU member continues to keep a law that’s considered illegal, the Commission gives it a few more chances to replace it with a compliant law before infringement proceedings are initiated, potentially leading to hefty fines being levied by the European Court of Justice.

“The European Commission has upheld its Detailed Opinion on the proposed changes to the State Treaty on Gambling. Amongst EU criticisms is that current amendments do not create a sustainable solution for the growing online casino market,” explained Kenny Alexander recently.

It now seems that Germany is finally heading towards the end of its long and arduous journey to get a legal internet gambling law accepted, and it is the light at the end of the tunnel that is responsible for the optimism expressed by GVC Chief Executive Officer.