Germany no authority to restrict number of sports licenses available

Tuesday, April 19, 2016 : WIESBADEN COURT REINFORCES EARLIER JUDICIAL RULINGS ON GERMAN SPORTS LICENSES.
 
Government has no authority to restrict number of sports licenses available.
 
The Tipico gambling group has enjoyed success in its legal challenge against the German government's arbitrary restriction on the number of sports betting licenses available.
 
In a finding handed down late last week, the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden confirmed that under EU law the government has no authority to cap the number of sports betting licenses it had made available (20 initially – recently boosted to 40.
 
The court agreed with previous similar judicial findings on the issue, further complicating the lives of government legislators trying to bring order to a thoroughly confusing licensing regime and comply with European Union law.
 
The court agreed that licensing regulations were vague and too complex, and that the regulatory process was unfairly discriminatory against non-German applicants from other EU member states.