By Wulf Hambach and Maximilian Riege

THE EU COMMISSION continues to block the new state treaty. The first draft had already fallen through with a big bang. Brussels did not hold back with its criticism either – in spite of the diplomatic tone.

When signed in mid-December 2011 by all 16 German minister presidents except minister president Peter Harry Carstensen from Schleswig-Holstein, the treaty’s ratification was made subject to a “concluding positive statement from the EU Commission”.

But the EU Commission was not impressed by the new draft: “On the basis of the information provided by the German authorities, the Commission services are not yet in a position to assess the extent of the problems identified or the suitability and proportionality of the measure proposed.”

The accusation that the gaming regulation lacks scientific foundation is the leitmotif of the Commission letter.

As the route taken so far by the 15 minister presidents has not led to any legislative answers, it is high time to take a step in a different direction – to the north. Schleswig-Holstein’s gambling legislation was approved by the EU in 2011.

So Schleswig-Holstein is the only German state with fully approved gambling legislation. Only the technical requirements and the so-called monitoring ordinance are pending. However, it is expected that a first round of preliminary licences for online gaming operators will be issued in April.

Gambling providers will be able to obtain a licence issued by Schleswig-Holstein, while the rest of Germany is still lacking a gambling regulation compliant with EU law.

The other 15 German federal states seem to be coming round. The minister for economic affairs in Lower Saxony, Jörg Bode, admitted as much as soon as the Commission’s statement was published: “The treaty in its present form has failed.”

What will the next steps be? The minister presidents met again as GIQ was going to press and it seems that other federal states such as Hesse or Saxony could also jump ship.

Joining the Schleswig-Holstein regulatory model is possible at any time. The Schleswig-Holstein minister president and the parliamentary party leaders of CDU and FDP in the Kiel parliament have always emphasised that the door remains open for the other federal states to endorse the Schleswig-Holstein model. It’s now perhaps about time that they did.

(pusblished at GIQ: http://www.giqmagazine.com/GIQ9/index.html)

By German Lawyer Dr. Bremer, WIRTSCHAFTSRAT GmbH and Prof. Dr. Englisch, University of Münster

With date on 26 March 2012, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) presented the chairman of the Finance Committee of the Lower House (Bundestag) with its assessment of the state aid problem in the draft bill of the Upper House on taxation of sports gaming. The starting point of the legal review was merely the reduction of the tax rate with regard to horse racing bets. What at first glance appears unproblematic, though, will almost certainly prove to be an insurmountable obstacle based on the legal standpoint of the BMF for the draft bill supported by the 15 federal states (E 15 – Glücksspieländerungsstaatsvertrag). In particular, the following arguments in terms of state aid law are definitive:

As is generally known, a refund of the proceeds from the taxation on horse racing bets on a scale of 96% is paid to the equine associations in order to finance horse breeding. As this tax rebate benefits only equine associations, but not bookmakers, this procedure can in principle be classified as selective state aid in contravention of European law. As in the conviction of the BMF it is almost certainly ineligible for permits too, it actually represents a contravention of European law if only on the basis of the law as it stands. The European Commission has thus far not objected to the ruling, only because it has been in place unchanged since 1922. The state aid associated with it, therefore, meanwhile enjoys a privileged status; it no longer needs to be notified to the Commission, nor can it be demanded back from the equine associations anymore for the past. Its examination under state aid law thus has no priority for the Commission; like the BMF one can almost certainly assume that the existence of this benefit is not even present with the Commission units responsible. Nonetheless, the Commission could at any time open a state aid control procedure in this regard, and it might demand the abolition of these state contributions to the equine associations in the future. The amendment under substantive law of the tax regime being sought with the E15, though, could in fact deliver the grounds for such a procedure, because it has implications for the volume of state aid and thus, in the conviction of the BMF, must be notified to the Commission. This is derived in particular from the following aspects:

The draft bill of the Upper House calls for a reduction of the tax rate from 16 ²/₃ % to 5 % and thus an adjustment of the tax rebate of max. 96 %. The implications of these changes for tax revenues overall, and thus also for the amount of the state aid for the equine associations, are unclear because the lower tax rate might be overcompensated for by an increase in legal gaming products. Moreover, the plan is to introduce the possibility via the “Totalisator” to offer betting on horse races also taking place abroad. This change, in any event, can be expected to result in an increase in tax revenues and thus also the volume of state aid in favour of the equine associations. By doing so, the state financing of the equine associations in place unchanged since 1922 will change to such an extent that a presumption of a “new” form of state aid is inevitable. Accordingly, a formal notification procedure would have to be initiated with the risk of “awaking sleeping dogs” at the Commission. Apart from that, any such notification procedure can stretch out for years, and until its completion by the Commission, there is a stay of execution in place, i.e. any application of the new ruling is prohibited under European law. This rules out any adjustment of the tax rate this year.

A further consequence is that any adjustment of the tax rate with regard to sports gaming will almost certainly not be possible either. This is because there is no inherent reason apparent as to why horse racing betting should be taxed differently – higher – than any other sports gaming. That would be very questionable not only under equality law, but as such could also represent a (further) breach of the ban on state aid under the European Treaties. Constitutional and European law, therefore, permits only a ruling that provides for equal taxation of 16 ²/₃ % for as long as the refunding of tax revenues to the equine associations is retained. In the case of sports gaming, though, any such tax burden means that any competitive product is impossible. Rather, any such burden would have a choking effect. From that, the legislator can draw only two consequences:

1. The tax refund to the equine associations is deleted from the law without substitution and the turnover tax is adjusted to the 5% sought. This ruling, though, would cause a collapse in the present financing of horse breeding.
2. The content of the rulings as they presently exist is left untouched and the legislator develops a legal system compatible with European law.

In other words: The Federal Ministry of Finance regards the adjustment that the E15 provides for as in contravention of European law. With that, the levy system of the E15 has failed. Any remedy can only be achieved at the expense of the collapse in the financing of horse breeding.

It once again transpires that the E15 consists of a plethora of breaches of constitutional and European law, which after all the clear pointers to that condition should actually contribute to the Federal States seeking a ruling in harmony with higher-ranking law. One model could to that extent be the ruling in Schleswig-Holstein, which also takes the interests of the federal states, but also of the providers, into account in a balanced manner.

Source: TIME Law News 2/2012, www.timelaw.de 

Host: iGaming Business

Date: 22 – 25 May 2012

Location: Dublin

Homepage: http://www.igamingsupershow.com/

GamingInSpain 2012: A different Approach!
DATE: 9-10 May 2012
9th May: 15:30 – 22:00 / 10th May: 9:00 – 18:00

We have the pleasure of announcing the second edition of the Gaming In Spain
Conference, in collaboration with our strategic partners JDigital and PromoMadrid.

In the current scenario for online gaming in Spain and the licenses being hold off,
these two days conference will bring the latest legislation updates and offer the
opportunity to discuss the most relevant topics about the industry. We will count on
leaders and experts from different areas and businesses: e-commerce, online
gaming, legal, media, marketing, social media and TV.

Venue
Palacio de Congresos
Paseo de la Castellana, 99
28046 Madrid, Spain

Speakers
Some of the speakers already confirmed are: Enrique Alejo González, General
Director of Ordenación del Juego; Mikel Lekaroz, Managing Director of Hi-Media
Group Spain; Joshua Novick, CEO of Antevenio; Juan Sevillano, Managing Director
of TradeDoubler Spain & Portugal; Santiago Asensi, Partner at Asensi Abogados;
Pedro López, Managing Partner at Martín Andino Abogados.

DAY 1 – 9th May
The first day will kick off with a high-level presentation on regulation, followed by a
session about the role of Autocontrol (government-approved regulatory authority),
and a panel about the key point of the players taxation system.

An official word of welcome from a high-ranking person from the Madrid Regional
Goverment will take place at the Santiago Bernabéu. Followed by a cocktail, hosted
by PromoMadrid, to facilitate networking and an informal exchange of information
and opinions by speakers and participants.

DAY 2 – 10 May
e-commerce, marketing, social media and TV will be the focus on the second day of
the conference. We will also discuss the new situation for Sportsbetting and Poker
under a regulated market.

The conference will be supported by our key sponsors: Hi-pay, paysafecard,
GranViaOnline, and our partners Sector del Juego, Opergame, Calvin Ayre,
iGamingBusines, Gambling Professional, GamingLaw, Kobalt Languages and
Pentasia.

Registration
Registration is open at www.GamingInSpainConference.com
The participation fee is €544 + VAT
Early bird, until the 22nd of May €464 +VAT

By Thibault Verbiest, Attorney at the Paris and Brussels bar, Founding partner of Ulys Law Firm and Deborah Modiano, Attorney at the Paris bar

On February, 24^th, 2012, the French online gambling regulator, ARJEL, submitted a set of four reports to the Ministry of Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform, including one relating to online skill games. This report was drafted at the request of the Ministry of Budget in order to regulate the online skill games industry and to increase French tax revenues. This report has not been published yet.

Historically, the French government limited gambling to a lottery, run by state-owned operation Groupe Française des Jeux (FDJ), and horse racing, run by state-owned operation Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU). All other forms of gambling were deemed illegal. However, this all changed with new legislation enacted in 2010.

After operating a state-run monopoly for online gaming for almost three years and under pressure from the European Commission (EC), the French Parliament passed the Law No. 2010-476 of May, 12^th, 2010 relating to the opening up to competition and the regulation of online gambling (hereinafter, the Act). The French government realized that by legalizing and regulating online gambling in France, it could better control underage and problem gambling, as well as unlicensed and disreputable online gambling sites, while increasing tax revenues. The purpose of this law was to thwart gambling addiction and money laundering, and to shelter existing French operators’ market share, including the government-owned monopolies.

The Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) was created to regulate the online gaming industry and opened its doors to foreign operators with the stipulation that operators adhere to a strict set of guidelines. On June 1, 2010 ARJEL began offering licenses for online poker, online sports betting, and online horse betting.

However, the Act of May 12^th, 2010, shall not apply to online skill games since Article 2 of the Act sets its scope, as follows: “a game of chance is a game played for money in which chance predominates over skill and over combinations of intelligence in view of winnings“.

During the parliamentary debates prior to the Act, legality of online pure skill games was expressly recognized by the French Government. For instance, the Minister of Budget, Public Accounts, Eric Woerth, said during a parliamentary session held October, 8^th, 2009, that “when it’s only a matter of skill, as it is in the case of checkers or chess, the game falls within a category that is not prohibited by law“.

More recently, French public authorities changed their perspective and purposely and unlawfully declared that the regime of skill games should be subjected to the general prohibition of Lottery and gambling. The aim of French authorities was to define skill games and prepare legislation on skill games similar to the Act of May 12^th, 2010 relating to online gambling.

As part of an information report of May, 25^th, 2011, pertaining to the implementation of the gambling Act, MP Jean-François Lamour proposed to “subject online skill games played for money to the regulation of ARJEL and to a special tax regime“. In the same report, his counterpart, MP Aurélie Filippetti said she would prefer “an outright prohibition of these games“.

Lamour’s standpoint was corroborated by Senator François Trucy in his information report of October, 12^th, 2011 relating to the evaluation of the gambling Act. Trucy actually called for “providing insights as to the integration of online skill games within the licensing regime of the Act of May 12^th, 2010 and the supervision of ARJEL” (5^th proposal).

The French Government took into consideration Lamour’s and Trucy’s recommendations while drafting its evaluation report that was released by the end of October 2011. The French Government recommended studying the impact of skill games in terms of addictive behavior, public demand and problem gambling, in order to determine whether it is possible to extent the scope of online gambling to skill games. The ARJEL was requested the submission of a report relating to skill games.

During the 2012′s greeting ceremony of the ARJEL of January 19^th, 2012, the President of the ARJEL Jean-François Vilotte provided few details about the study of online skill games.

He said that the French legal framework of gambling does not enable to offer online skill games on the French territory.

Besides the fact that the criminalization of skill games in France is not proven, the President of the ARJEL builds on a second argument, just as questionable as the previous one, in favor of regulating online skill games. He considers that “the sincerity of online pure skill games is impossible given bots software that is easy to create“. It is important to note that the same problem applies to online gambling and French regulation of online gambling has not prevented such bots used on games that are much more harmful than skill games.

The President of the ARJEL gives an outline of the legal framework of online skill games which is under review by French public authorities:

“Of course, in order to ensure a protection of public and social policies, operators would be subject to general requirements of the Act of May 12^th, 2010, especially in the opening of players’ accounts and the approval of gaming software.”

Consequently, France is heading towards the introduction of a legal framework of online skill games, based on an exception to the general prohibition of gambling and that would be aligned to the provisions of the Act of May 12^th, 2010.

Doing so, we consider that the potential regulation of skill games by French authorities would be inconsistent with the provisions of the European Union law, notably the Directive relating to electronic commerce. This Directive prevents any national regulation related to information society services, such as online skill games, from subjecting these to a prior authorization system, such as a licensing regime, or from controlling the activity of online gambling operators located in a Member State other than France.

VMW Taxand shareholder Justin Franssen preserved a band 1 ranking in the category “Gaming and Gambling” in Chambers Global Edition 2012 for the fifth consecutive year. His international work is recognized by Chambers Global: “Justin Franssen works closely with his fellow European experts on pan-regional issues. He recently achieved a landmark decision allowing Betfair to compete for Dutch licences that is likely to have ripple effects in the wider market.”

Gaming, Sports & Entertainment at VMW Taxand

VMW Taxand is the only law firm in the Netherlands with a specialized multidisciplinary practice group dedicated to advising and litigating on behalf of the international gaming and gambling sector. The gaming focus has recently expanded to include sports and entertainment. Justin Franssen heads the Gaming, Sports & Entertainment practice group which also consists of Marjan Olfers, Frank Tolboom and Alan Littler.
Dr. Marjan Olfers specializes in litigation and advising clients on sports, media and events law. and attorney Frank Tolboom concentrates on advising clients active in the gaming sector on all operational and regulatory aspects of their businesses. Gaming lawyer Dr. Alan Littler is involved with Dutch and European developments in the field.

The team has a deep understanding of the fast-moving and dynamic gaming business and recognises the on-going convergence of gambling, (social) gaming, media and sports.

With their legal experience, specialised knowledge and commercial understanding of the industry they offer their clients practical and effective solutions. Above all, VMW Taxand provides a full range of services in response to the regulatory, commercial, tax, technical, and operational issues facing its clients.

Chambers

Since 1990, Chambers has the world’s leading guides to the legal profession and has built a reputation for in-depth, objective research. Chambers identify and rank the best lawyers (i.e those who perform best according to the criteria most valued by clients – such as technical expertise, business acumen, prompt delivery, value for money).

by Dr. Wulf Hambach, Maximilian Riege

21 Mar. 2012

The EU Commission continues to block the planned revision of gaming law. The first draft for a new inter-state treaty had already fallen through with a big bang and, in its reaction to the revised draft which was published on Tuesday, Brussels does not hold back with its criticism either – in spite of the diplomatic tone. “The example of Schleswig-Holstein could now become the way out of the mess”, say Wulf Hambach and Maximilian Riege.

Rhineland-Palatinate’s minister president Beck especially would have certainly welcomed a different answer from Brussels, as the ratification of the new draft for an inter-state treaty on gambling – also referred to as the “E-15 Draft” – when signed in mid-December 2011, had been made subject to a “concluding positive statement from the EU Commission” by his conservative colleagues in other federal states.

Accordingly, the pressure imposed by the E-15 representatives during their numerous trips to Brussels had been significant. However, the EU Commission was unimpressed and holds in its new statement: “On the basis of the information provided by the German authorities, the Commission services are not yet in a position to assess the extent of the problems identified or the suitability and proportionality of the measure proposed.”

The accusation that the gaming regulation lacks scientific foundation is the leitmotif of the Commission letter. At numerous points, Brussels criticises that the assumptions made by the 15 federal states cannot be verified, as scientific surveys for alleged risks and economic considerations are lacking. These are also demanded by the European Court of Justice.

No convincing bans without evidence and data

It seems that the 15 minister presidents and their gaming law advisors have failed to grasp the decisive points of the letter of warning sent by the Commission last summer. Even then, the different treatment of sports bets, online casino games and poker, the arbitrary limitation to seven sports betting licences, and the high tax rate imposed on gaming providers had been criticised.

However, the second attempt at a new regulation of gaming has not lifted the ban on online casino games and online poker. Now, twenty sports betting licenses are planned to be issued instead of the previous number of seven – the 21^st interested party would be left in the lurch with its application for a betting licence, and would be discriminated against in comparison with the other twenty.

This not only constitutes a violation of the European fundamental freedoms, but furthermore is to be seen as an unjustified encroachment upon the freedom of occupation guaranteed by Art. 12 of the German Constitution, a fact pointed out only recently by the former president of the German federal constitutional court (BVerfG), Hans-Jürgen Papier, in an expertise on the new inter-state treaty on gambling. The same applies with regard to the planned taxation.

Finally, the unsubstantiated different treatment of games of chance with similar addiction potential, such as online sports bets and online poker, also constitutes a violation of the principle of a consistent and coherent gaming law regime.

Correspondingly, the EU Commission criticises above all that the legislators failed to do their homework, which would have been to provide evidence and data justifying a ban. To merely continuously keep repeating the addiction argument, without providing any kind of evidence, will not suffice, neither to justify the lottery monopoly nor the ban on online casino games and poker.

Schleswig-Holstein has done its homework

As therefore the route taken up to now by the 15 minister presidents has not led to the correct legislative answers, it would be high time to take a step in a different direction – for instance to the north: In contrast to the E-15 Draft, Schleswig-Holstein acutally can rely on “data and evidence” – with the result that Brussels’ reply to the draft from northern Germany one year ago was as brief as it was positive in conclusion.

For instance, a study by the gaming and betting research institution Bonner Forschungsinstitut für Glücksspiel und Wetten from 2011 showed that online poker does not have a higher addiction factor than online sports bets. Due to this scientific evidence, the Schleswig-Holstein expert politician for economic affairs, Hans-Jörn Arp, CDU, finds it hard to understand why the representatives of the other federal states advocate the licensing of online sports bets, whilst at the same time propagating the ban on online poker for reasons of addiction prevention. Arp says that this cannot be explained by points of logic, but probably rather had ideological reasoning behind it.

A position which the other 15 German federal states should maybe take into consideration once more – in particular as they now seem to have understood that the route taken up to now has not led in the right direction.  Jörg Bode (FDP), minister for economic affairs in Lower Saxony, for instance, said directly after the Commission’s statement was published: “The treaty in its present form has failed”.

What will the next steps be? Joining the Schleswig-Holstein regulatory model is possible at any time. The Schleswig-Holstein minister president and the parliamentary party leaders of CDU and FDP in the Kiel parliament have always emphasised that the door remains open for the other federal states to endorse the Schleswig-Holstein model. It would serve legal certainty in Germany in the area of gaming law.

Dr. Wulf Hambach is founding partner, Maximilan Riege is senior associate at the law firm Hambach & Hambach in Munich. The authors specialise inter alia in gaming law.

See German version of the article at www.lto.de/recht/hintergruende/h/gluecksspielstaatsvertrag-eu-kommission-schleswig-holstein-sportwetten/

Citation suggestion for this article:

Dr. Wulf Hambach, Maximilian Riege, Sports Bets, Online Poker & Co.: Brussels stops revision of German gaming law. In: Legal Tribune ONLINE, 21.03.2012, http://www.lto.de/persistant/a_id/5834/ (retrieved on 21 Mar. 2012)

Copyright © Wolters Kluwer Deutschland GmbH

Potsdam/Werder, in March 2012. One question has continuously been hovering in the background: What will Brussels say? Anticipating a statement from the European Commission on the so-called E-15 Draft for a new inter-state treaty on gambling (GlüStV) which has been initiated by all German federal states with the exception of Schleswig-Holstein, more than 100 top representatives from the gaming sector, media and sports met at Schwielowsee near Potsdam for the Sports Gaming Summit organised by the trade magazine Sponsors http://www.sponsors.de to discuss the current market and legal situation.

Whilst Schleswig-Holstein, with its gaming act (GlüG) – which has already been approved by the EU Commission – places the focus on a liberalisation and simultaneous regulation of the market, and on regulating by law the revenue for organised public sports, is currently still working on the specific design of a supervisory regulation and will shortly issue the first licenses, the draft prepared by the other federal states sticks with restrictive regulations, for instance completely excluding the online poker market and casino games, and providing for an arbitrary number of licenses to be issued to gaming providers. The original draft provided for seven licenses, the second draft provides for 20 – one country, two gaming law regimes. The majority of the participants expressed their concern that Germany will, in the near future, probably not be able to establish a nationwide gaming law regime which complies with European law. Dr. Henrik Bremer from the law firm Bremer Grimm Heller said that it can be expected that the first licenses with a term of six years will doubtlessly be issued in Schleswig-Holstein before the state elections, once the conclusive administrative preparations have been completed.

E-15 Draft: a poisoned system

In view of the present developments, the industry expects “A Year of Chaos”. This is how Jörg Wacker, director of bwin, expressed his expectations. The spirit of the E-15 Draft was characterised by Dr. Wulf Hambach, founder and managing partner of the Munic law firm Hambach & Hambach http://www.timelaw.de as “not even with regard to its concept being suitable to actually generate competition, due to the original parameters of the enormous tax burden of 16.67 per cent on turnover, and seven licenses.” Hambach referred to the Draft as a “poisoned system” under which providers will be not able to operate, and create profitable offers. This is the exact draft act for which the federal states were already shown a red card in the summer of 2011. In the wake of this decision, neither the deadline set by the EU for a revision, 18 August, was met, nor was the new draft, which was submitted at the end of the year, competitive, as the system, and thus the “spirit of the act” remained unchanged. Furthermore, it is a questionable procedure to submit a new draft in the course of ongoing notification proceedings. Hambach also criticised the course of action of the federal states who had presented their original draft in Brussels without the legislative reasoning. As Brussels will not change the traffic lights to green for the E-15 Draft, the situation will probably soon become even more obscure: In a note to protocol on the E-15 Treaty, Hesse and Lower Saxony made their approval of the E-15 Treaty subject to a “conclusively positive assessment” by Brussels. The act prepared by the CDU and FDP parties in Kiel, on the other hand, is designed in a manner to ensure that it can be incorporated into an inter-state treaty on gaming with the other federal states. The announcement made by Martin Staelmeier, head of the office of the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister President, in August, stating that the E-15 Treaty will have been signed by Easter 2012, has already been overtaken by reality.

In Hambach’s opinion, the technical challenges associated with the Schleswig-Holstein model in view of the frequently expressed concerns regarding an increase in money laundering, are certainly manageable. At the Sports Gaming Summit, Burkhard Ley, director of Wirecard Bank which as a universal bank is controlled by the German financial services authority (BaFin) and has developed technical mechanisms serving to prevent money laundering and fraud in electronic payment transactions, explained the technical possibilities for the prevention of manipulation, money laundering and addiction risks. The regulating executive order in Kiel provides for online gaming providers being obligated to process electronic payment transactions via a universal bank. According to Hambach, this means that BaFin is also involved. “A higher level of money laundering prevention cannot be achieved.”

Legal guarantee: Public sports will benefit

Dr. Dirk Quermann, CEO of the Gauselmann subsidiary Merkur Interactive GmbH, views the present developments outside Schleswig-Holstein with little optimism. He criticised in particular that the E-15 Draft completely ignores the players’ wishes: It makes little sense for a private provider to apply for such a license, as it will not be possible to create offers which are under demand by the players. The Kiel model now for the first time allows the providers to legally enter the German market with online offers, and to provide players with attractive games.

For Dr. Erhart Körting (SPD), former Minister of the Interior in Berlin, one of the decisive questions is whether the number of 20 licenses provided for by the GlüStV will be upheld before the European Court of Justice. He thinks it may be likely that the treaty will not be concluded and that “the 15 states, depending on their political orientation, will pass their own gaming regimes”. Some of the federal states are already on the starting blocks in this respect. For him, it is important that the revenue from gaming offers is used to promote public sports and social projects. Dr. Miachel Vesper, Secretary General of the German Olympic Sports Association (DOSB), stressed the necessity of a uniform solution, also against the background of the new act on horse race bets and lotteries (Rennwett- und Lotteriegesetz) which is being discussed at present by the Bundestag. He, just like Frank Bohmann, manager of the Toyota Handball Bundesliga and representative of the initiative professional sports (IPC), emphasised that a certain part of the revenue from the sports betting business should go to public sports. Vesper says: “No sports betting without sports.” This is just what Schleswig-Holstein has provided for. “For the first time ever, there is a financing guarantee in an act in favour of public sports”, Professor Dr. Martin Nolte from the Deutsche Sporthochschule http://www.dshs-koeln.de explained. Overall, the scientist holds that the Schleswig-Holstein model is much closer to reality with regard to player protection, prevention, utilisation of tax revenue and advertising possibilities.

The fact that sports clubs in the north of Germany have long since tied up sponsoring packages with providers from the industry also became clear during the industry meeting in Brandenburg. For instance, the major handball clubs THW Kiel and SG Flensburg-Handewitt advertise bwin and bet-at-home respectively. At the beginning of the year, VfB Lübeck, a regional league football team, was able to enter into a naming rights agreement for Lohmühle stadium with the world’s largest online poker provider Pokerstars, who is now holding gaming licenses in eight European countries. Up until the issue of the Schleswig-Holstein license, Pokerstars intends to continue to provide a free play-money site at the URL www.pokerstars.de, as this – after consultation with the state media authorities – is possible even without a licence. Kevin O’Neal, director business development at Pokerstars, sketched the sponsoring strategy “small name, big potential” with regard to the VfB Lübeck engagement, which he said also worked out for the present poker world champion Pius Heinz. The strategy is to rely on the one hand on illustrious names, such as tennis legend Boris Becker, a devoted poker player who can genuinely communicate this, but also on the supposed underdog who can be successful in the sport (of poker) as a born fighter.

Summarising the Schwielowsee meeting, the industry continues to be on the move. Brussels will at least not be able to give the go-ahead. Possibly, this may lead to a patchwork of gaming regulations, owing to the German federal system. Schleswig-Holstein has broken new ground, and will also benefit on the fiscal side. Then, if not earlier, other federal states will follow suit, or at least move closer to the Kiel model. (Andreas Schultheis)