Schleswig-Holstein awards five new sports betting licences

The Interior Ministry of Schleswig Holstein has awarded five further sports betting licences despite its newly formed coalition government seeking a return to the nationwide Intrastate Gambling Treaty.

Ladbrokes, 888 UK, Admiral Sportwetten (Rellingen), Admiral Sportwetten (Gumpoldskirchen in Austria) and Cashpoint Malta Ltd (Malta) have all been awarded licences today, each one valid until August 26 2018. This brings the total amount of licences in Germany’s northernmost state to 12 including Betfair, Bet365, bwin.party, mybet, Die Nordwestlotto, Tipico and betathome.

A Ladbrokes spokesman told eGaming Review the company was “very pleased” with being awarded a Schleswig Holstein licence and that it was monitoring regulatory developments due to the “ongoing uncertainty” in Germany. While it had received notification via a regional government press release this morning Ladbrokes has yet to receive “full written confirmation”, the spokesman said. The company currently takes bets from Germany, however he added this was a “very small part of the business”.

The Interior Ministry said it was considering sports betting licence applications from a further 22 operators, with another 22 applicants seeking a licence to offer online casino and poker.

Five days ago the German parliament heard the first reading of a number of draft bills aimed at scrapping Schleswig Holstein’s existing gaming laws in favour of ratifying and implementing Germany’s controversial Interstate Gambling Treaty.

The three draft bills propose the ratification and implementation of the State Treaty and the repeal of Schleswig Holstein’s four month-old online gambling rulings with a further two sessions expected to take place before any concrete action is taken.

Germany’s northernmost state introduced its own egaming regulations in March this year, awarding three of the first of seven sports betting licences to Betfair JAXX SE (now rebranded mybet), and Die NordwestLotto Schleswig-Holstein on 3 May, just weeks before the CDU government narrowly lost the state election to its rival the SPD. The social democratic party then formed a coalition with the Green party, and a local Danish speaking political group gave it a slender majority over its counterparts. Just days after gaining power the SPD announced it would seek a return to the State Treaty.

Facing calls from opposition ministers for a delay in issuing further licences, Interior Minister Andreas Breitner said during last week’s parliamentary reading that it was not in the state’s interest to suspend its Gambling Act ahead of going through the correct procedure with the EC because this would replace it with a “lawless state”. This could take a further three to four months.

Despite the majority of his party seeking to overturn the state’s more liberal regulations allowing all forms of online gambling in exchange for a 20% gross profits tax, Breitner has continued to insist that Schleswig Holstein’s authorities are bound by the state’s current rules until they are revoked and that as a result further licences could be issued.

“The new laws can only come into force after the notification and consent procedure has been completed. The standstill period lasts for three months, but is extended to four months if a comment from another Member State is received. All of these steps have to be completed before the bill can have a second reading in the state parliament,” he told parliament.

“Until then, the regional government is of course still bound by prevailing law, which means that additional licences can be granted. Gambling operators are legally entitled to receive a licence, as long as the relevant criteria are fulfilled. It also means that any licences that have already been granted remain valid for the specified [six-year] period,” he added.

The state faces further problems however with Schleswig Holstein licensees Mybet and bwin.party, taking legal action over delays in issuing their poker and casino betting licences after both were approved in May this year. Mybet offers sports betting to German customers under both dot.com and dot.de domains, while bwin has a localised dot.com domain. Both companies have previously refused to comment further on the matter.

Germany last week opened the tender process for its 20 sports betting licences to be issued under its Interstate Gambling Treaty with licensees given until 4 September to submit the first set of documents in German to the Interior Ministry of the state of Hesse, which will act as the licensing authority. Both mybet and bwin.party have said they will apply for a State Treaty licence.

The Treaty came into force on 1 July after being ratified by 14 of Germany’s federal states, replacing the previous state monopoly on sports betting. It carries with it a 5% turnover tax on all sports bets and continues to enforce a ban on online poker and casino. North Rhine-Westphalia has also yet to ratify the Treaty.