German licensing law under fresh scrutiny
Questions referred to European Court of Justice pour fresh scorn on licensing procedure and cast doubt legality of the award of ODS Oddset's licence
Germany’s sports betting licensing procedure has come under fresh scrutiny after questions from an ongoing district court case in the country were referred to the European Court of Justice (CJEU).
The Sebat Ince case, lodged with the Sonthofen district court, questioned the interpretation of Article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which states a requirement for transparency and equality in EU law as well as a prohibition of preferential treatment.
The court has sought to clarify whether Article 56 precludes penalising sports betting firms for accepting bets in the country considering that several disputes have been raised with the licensing procedure.
Questions referred to the CJEU cite the lack of public licensing requirements prior to the submission deadline and how no applicants were considered to have met the minimum conditions for a licence despite 14 companies having been invited to present social responsibility policies seven months before.
The case also questioned the licence awarded to state-owned operator ODS Oddset, citing German law which requires the strict separation of sporting bodies and betting operators apparently being in conflict with ODS organisational links to several sport organisation authorities.
ODS is part-owned by the country’s state lottery bodies, a number of which are owned by sporting federations, creating what the case has argued to be a conflict of interest.
ODS was one of 20 applicants to have received a provisional online sports betting licence from the Hessian Ministry of the Interior earlier this month, alongside Betfair, bwin.party and Ladbrokes.
However the procedure has been plunged into doubt after unsuccessful applicants received interim protection after challenging the decision, preventing the issue of full licences and the launch of the online market.
While there has been no clarification from German courts as to how long the suspension is likely to last, it has been estimated that it will take several months for administrative courts in the country to arrive at a ruling.