Playtech-powered casinos scale back German operations
Mansion Group's five Germany-facing casino brands to stop accepting new customers from 2 February
Playtech-powered Mansion Group is to close its doors to new customers in Germany from next month, eGaming Review has learned.
The Gibraltar licensee sent a message to affiliates this week informing them that new players would be blocked from accessing its Casino.com, MansionCasino.com, LesAcasino.com, Club777.com and Slotsheaven.com brands, although free-to-play games will still be available.
A statement on the operator’s affiliate programme website confirmed the closure of iAffiliates in the German market and said all German affiliate accounts would have to close no later than 30 January.
“Beginning 1 February 2015, registration will be blocked for all new players based in Germany for the iAffiliates-marketed brands,” the statement read.
“This close only affects players based in Germany; German-speaking players from other countries are not affected by these restrictions,” it added.
eGR understands the decision was taken by the Mansion Group itself with Playtech having no intention to withdraw its operations from the German market.
According to a gaming lawyer in Germany who preferred not be named, the decision was likely the result of a recent increase in taxation rather than regulatory requirements.
Following changes to how value added tax (VAT) is applied across EU member states, Germany-facing egaming operators now have to pay a 19% tax on online casino and poker profits.
“As the VAT system has changed fundamentally with regard to the cross-border provision of services within the EU as of 1 January 2015, operators now have to pay German VAT on gaming services, if the customer is situated in Germany,” the lawyer told eGR.
“Only sports betting is VAT exempt, as a betting tax has to be paid at 5% on the wager,” he added.
eGR recently revealed that a number of operators were preparing to mount a legal challenge against Germany’s decision to apply VAT to gaming profits. The majority of EU member states offer an exemption for gambling and gaming products.