11/21/2011 9:35:44 AM
Deutschland V Gambling Freedom!
It is with great sadness, and to my surprise, that at the time
of writing 15 out of the 16 German “Länders” (besides
Schleswig-Holstein) have agreed to sign an interstate gambling
treaty that would effectively close down several German-focused
operations who I have been in direct contact with recently.
Inevitably it will close the door on several operators who were
considering, or were in the process of developing programmes to
legally enter into the market after regulation.
Personally, I would have loved the opportunity to brush up on my
somewhat rusty German speaking skills and my old English-German
dictionary to recruit for German-speaking acquisition marketing
personnel within the iGaming sector!
Although Schleswig-Holstein has spoken out and requested that
other Länders bring their interstate treaty in line with their own
state framework, I share the opinion with Henrik Armah (Senior
Associate at Olswang Berlin) that this is “somewhat ambitious”,
despite how realistic it may sound in principle.”
With the gambling treaty proposing to last up to 10 years from
the start date of the 15th December; could we see the beginning of
a “Nevada style” gaming culture in Germany?
Perhaps too early to predict, but one thing is for sure, it will
be interesting to see how stringent the regulations turn out to be
with many iGaming professionals predicting it an unworkable (5%
turnover tax) and restrictive regulation.
Andrew Wiseman
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