Online Gambling Sites Withdraw from Germany
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Five related online gambling sites have announced that they are leaving the German market following the prosecution of a Blackjack player from Munich.
Germany´s restrictive gambling laws only allow online gamblers to engage in licensed sports betting and lotteries – online poker and casino games are not allowed under Germany´s current legislation. States which have tried to instigate their own legislation have been thwarted by the country´s 2012 Interstate Treaty on Gambling and technically Internet poker and online casino gambling in Germany is illegal.
This has not prevented thousand of German citizens from gambling online, and some of the most successful online poker players come from Germany – Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker winning more than $6 million at the online poker tables in 2013. However, following the prosecution of a Munich blackjack player earlier this month (as reported by PokerNewsReport.com), several online gambling sites have announced that they are closing their operations in Germany.
Big Names Pull Out of Germany
The five online casinos which have announced they are withdrawing from the German market are fairly substantial names – Casino.com, MansionCasino.com, LesAcasino.com, Club777.com, and SlotsHeaven.com. The casinos are related inasmuch as they all use software provided by Playtech and sent a similar email to their members:
We regret to inform you that…a closure in the German market for all brands. Beginning February 1st 2015, registration will be blocked for all new players based in Germany for the marketed brands.
German online gamblers will still be able to create and use play money accounts on the five casino websites, but not allowed to deposit into their accounts and play real money casino games. This may seem to be a pointless course of action, but it circumnavigates laws prohibiting the advertising of unregulated games via free-to-play games, and would keep the brands in the public domain if ever there was a relaxing of Germany´s anti-online gambling laws.
The Start of a Mass Exodus?
Germany has for a long time been considered a “grey area” by online gambling companies. Primarily this because the European Court of Justice decreed in 2010 that the prohibition of Internet poker and casino games was against European law, but also because the country´s sixteen states make their own regulations.
However, this is not the first time that online gambling sites have withdrawn from the German market – Betfred and Betfair both pulled out of Germany in June 2014 – and although no explicit reason has been given for the five casinos shutting up shop, it is believed to be related to a clampdown by the German authorities on unregulated and unlicensed gambling sites – a clampdown which may be extended in the future.
The Consequences of an Online Gambling Ban
It is not inconceivable that despite the EU´s ruling in 2010, Germany could still bring in a blanket ban on online gambling. Talks have been ongoing to amend the Interstate Treaty on Gambling in order to prohibit all forms on online gambling except the federal lottery, and this would be supported by legislation to monitor financial transactions to unlicensed gambling sites.
If this were to happen, there would be dire consequences to liquidity on both the European poker sites and US-friendly poker sites that accept players from Germany. It could also have a devastating influence on the WSOP Europe – which is scheduled to be held in Berlin this fall – and events on the PokerStars European Poker Tour due to the volume of players who qualify for the major tournaments through online qualifiers.
All we can hope for is that the authorities revise their opinions on online gambling to prevent more online gambling sites withdrawing from Germany.
2 comments on “Online Gambling Sites Withdraw from Germany”
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Millions of people worldwide indulge in online gambling, a bigger proportion play on unregulated sites than play on regulated, safe sites. The USA for their part ignore their own history; Prohibition was an unmitigated disaster, yet here we are again in Germany.
Money laundering from many illegal operations worldwide will continue to keep the unregulated online gambling market flourishing.
Online hard core porn is readily available, sadomasochism can be viewed at the click of a button, Fraud in many guises is perpetrated throughout the world via the P.C. Politicians and other lawmakers need to get real and get a grip of the afore mentioned activities and many other tasteless recreational operations, before Driving the P.C. underground, which is a ridiculous and dangerous path to follow, but that is the consequence of such actions being attempted in Germany and the States.
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