InsidePoker Business: Focus On… Germany

Jake Pollard, published in InsidePoker Business, September/October 2010, edition 9, page 44

Schleswig-Holstein Pushes For German Gambling Re-Think

28 Sep, 2010 / GamblingCompliance / Daniel Macadam

Parliamentary discussions are underway in Schleswig-Holstein regarding online gambling reforms as the Lander looks to implement them quickly, before the controversial Interstate Treaty expires.

Its two ruling parties are working towards a revision of the treaty that would amend the current state lottery monopolies, open up the sports betting market and end the blanket ban on internet gambling.

They aim to present their lottery reforms to the 15 other German states, or Lander, by the end of this year, and their plans for the controlled liberalisation of sports betting and internet gambling by mid-2011. … Continue Reading

IMGL Autumn Conference 24.10.2010 – 26.10.2010

Madrid

Spain

Organizer: IMGL

More information: www.gaminglawmasters.com/conference/index.php

Tipp24 Plots German Comeback After ECJ Shake Up

14 Sep, 2010 published on GamblingCompliance by Daniel Macadam

Private lottery operator Tipp24 plans to resume its formerly outlawed German business in the wake of Europe’s top court ruling last week against Germany’s state lottery and sports betting monopolies.

Prosecutions against Tipp24, and other private operators, for breaking the country’s prohibitive Interstate Treaty are now on hold as gaming authorities wait for the national courts to decide how the ECJ rulings will be applied.

The ECJ’s judgments on Wednesday plunged the German gambling market into legal chaos, as they found that Germany’s regulations did not limit games of chance in a consistent and systematic manner.

… Continue Reading

Press release: 9 September 2010: ECJ Judgement in the Carmen Media case (represented by Hambach & Hambach Law Firm):

9 September 2010: ECJ Judgement in the Carmen Media case (represented by Hambach & Hambach Law Firm):

Gücksspielstaatsvertrag (German Interstate Treaty on Gambling) violates Union law – Schleswig-Holstein’s model now trend-setting

After the ECJ’s decision in case C-46/08 Carmen Media, the German gambling monopoly has come to an end. In its decision given today, the ECJ makes it clear that the Verwaltungsgericht (Administrative Court) of Schleswig, in its resolution of 30 January 2008 referring the case for a preliminary ruling, correctly reached the conclusion that the German gambling regulation is not in compliance with Union law (see press release dated 31 January 2008 http://www.timelaw.de/ cms/front_content.php?idcat=7&idart=52&lang=1 ). The chief judge at the VG Schleswig, during the hearing on 30 January 2008, already expressed her view of the legal situation that a state gambling monopoly could only be justified with the objectives of combating gambling addiction if all legal regulations and actual measures taken by a Member state in the entire gambling market, rather than merely the provisions on which the monopoly on sports betting and lotteries is based, are made subject to examination with regard to whether restrictions on games are systematic and consistent. As a logical conclusion, the Verwaltungsgericht of Schleswig referred, among other issues, this question of consistency to the ECJ. … Continue Reading