Germany may not impose sanctions on Unlicensed Online Gambling Operators

Friday, February 5, 2016 :  GERMANY CAN NOT IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON UNLICENSED OPERATORS SAYS CJEU (Update)

Significant ruling from top European court.

Germany may not impose sanctions against operators on the basis of online gambling regulation, which has already been found to flout European Union Law, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said in a significant ruling relating to the Sebat Ince case this week.

The court determined that Germany’s monopoly on internet gaming is still alive despite a flawed attempt at awarding 20 sports betting licenses.

“Today’s ruling emphatically confirmed that the German online gambling regime reached a practical and legal dead end,” Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) said.  “The CJEU ruled the experimental clause for sports betting introduced in 2012 has failed to remedy the incompatibility with EU law. This means the German online gambling regime still violates EU law and cannot be enforced.”
 
The EGBA urged the European Commission to swiftly open an infringement case against Germany to ensure the country changes course regarding its licensing regime while encouraging the adoption of existing regulation in Schleswig-Holstein .

The ruling comes on the heels of an announcement from Betsson who said the company would make retrospective tax payments to German authorities in the hopes of attaining a favourable view when license applications are relaunched.