Schleswig-Holstein must break away from Inter State Treaty, say politicians
State politicians argue controversial treaty could collapse under legal challenges as Hessian Ministry explains licensing delay
Politicians in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein have proposed a break away from the country’s controversial Inter State Treaty, arguing it to be at risk of collapse under widely expected legal challenges.
Speaking yesterday, Hans-Jorn Arp of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany Party and Free Democratic Party chairman Wolfgang Kubicki said the Hessian Ministry of the Interior’s (HMI) attempts to regulate online sports betting had been a failure.
In a document sent to the HMI in July this year but only released yesterday, Kubicki condemned the efforts of the regulatory body and said the Inter State Treaty had become an “economic programme for illegal operators”.
“The limiting of licences has proven to be highly complex, contentious and tedious. But above all, it had the objective of reducing illegal sports betting but [has] hurt this goal to the contrary,” Kubicki said.
Kubicki said that the delay in issuing licences had only served to increase the size of the country’s grey market and proposed that the Schleswig-Holstein model of a more liberalised market would better serve the country’s interest.
“Our way is easier”¦ fights illegal [gambling] and money laundering and has been examined by the European Commission. It works to protect the players and provides government revenue,” he said.
In the government document Kubicki issued six questions to the HMI regarding the licensing process, largely relating to the legal challenges, delays and problems encountered by the Ministry during the licensing process.
The Ministry responded by stating that the process had taken longer than envisaged due to the high number of applicants and supporting documents that needed to be assessed, confirming that it had hired an additional law firm to assist in the process.
The Ministry also “opposed in the strongest terms” allegations that the delay in the process had caused unlicensed operators to thrive in the market and defended the Treaty’s ability to combat the country’s grey market.
The issue of 20 provisional sports betting licences to successful applicants earlier this week marked the most significant move forward to a regulated online gambling market in Germany since the Inter State Treaty was enacted in 2012 and followed a string of delays.