FEATURE 专题报道
GERMANY: the
NEW ERA THE FIRST WEEKS OF A NEW ERA: GERMANY'S NEW GAMBLING REGULATION HAS TAKEN OFF. JOERG HOFMANN, HEAD OF THE BETTING AND GAMING GROUP AT MELCHERS LAW FIRM, LOOKS AT THE CHALLENGES THE YOUNG REGULATED MARKET WILL HAVE TO FACE.
" IT IS NOT THE LAW THAT PRACTICES PLAYER PROTECTION, BUT THE LICENSED AND SUPERVISED GAMBLING OPERATORS "
A
farewell to the grey market, but perhaps also to the black-market? High product restrictions, deposit and stake limits, ongoing licensing procedures, administrative in-frastructure still under development and massive tax increases. It has taken a long time. Finally, Germany has also arrived in the internet age. At least that's how it seems at first glance. On 1 July 2021, the online casino prohibition gave way to a licensing regulation. Since then, online gambling operators can apply for licences for virtual slot machine games and online poker at the responsible state administration office in Halle. So far, this sounds good. I remember some very wise words from Birgitte Sand, the long-time director of the Danish Gambling Regulatory Authority, which she spoke several times at international gambling conferences. She said: "Two criteria are crucial for successful gambling regulation: content and taxation". This is absolutely true. A level of high restriction that is unattractive for the player and taxation that impairs competitiveness are not suitable for channelling as many players - and operators - as possible into the statesupervised market.
SUMMER / AUTUMN 2021
25
