The long-running saga of the German states’ treaty on gambling reached another legal milestone this week when a German court told the states to go back and rethink the sports betting elements within it.
The treaty, agreed between the 16 German states, has been much criticised and among its provisions are wide-ranging restrictions on licensing of arcades, which, if not successfully challenged, would decimate the number of AWP machines in the market.
That sector may benefit from the chaos brought about by the licensing process for sports betting under the treaty. The states had appointed one of its number, the state of Hesse, to lay out the parameters of the sports betting proposals by beginning the process in its own territory.
But the Administrative Court of Hessen came out with a strong criticism of the i-gaming proposals, ordering the state Ministry of the Interior and Sport to reassess a previously rejected application by an Austrian operator.
The operator’s bid to have its application for a licence to be reconsidered was upheld by the court.
In addition, the German Sports Advisory Board has withdrawn from discussions with the Ministry of Interior and Sports in Hesse after warnings it had given on the proposals were ignored.
Hesse was due to grant 20 sports betting licences under the interstate treaty but the treaty’s proposals had been accused of violating EU competiton and trade laws.
The proposals on the arcade and gaming machine regulations under the treaty have similarly been widely condemned as violating EC law and it remains to be seen now whether the new setbacks will create a fresh environment in which the provisions of the treaty can be reworked to a more satisfactory conclusion.
