On September 18, authorities awarded licenses to several operators. Tipico, BluBet, Austrian operator Cashpoint, and Skill on Net received licenses to operate online casino games in Germany.
The state’s Ministry of the Interior stated that licensees must implement various player protection requirements.
Interior minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack said of the policy change that by allowing online offer, they want to prevent players from taking advantage of illegal offers if they want to play the games they know from casinos online, for example, and thus strengthen legal gambling.
Operators can obtain licenses to offer online slots and poker in the state through the Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), a gambling regulator established in July 2022 to replace the Saxony-Anhalt State Administration Office.
However, each of Germany’s 16 states has the option to grant online casino table games licenses independently of the gambling regulator.
Under the State Treaty on Gambling (GlüNeuRStv), states received the authority to grant licenses starting from July 1, 2021.
Christian Heins, igaming director of Tipico took to his LinkedIn page to celebrate the license. This is especially in his home state of Schleswig-Holstein. He is looking to open discussions with providers of casino table games. This move received praise from the Austrian gambling trade body, Österreichische Vereinigung für Wetten und Glücksspiel (OVWG). They noted that a safe and controlled regulatory framework would help minimize risks for players.
It said that the approval of these online casino games could now become a model for other German states.
Germany is battling a growing black market due to regulatory delays and advertising restrictions on licensed operators.
The black market accounted for 4% of the overall GGR of the sector last year, estimated by the GGL. This includes land-based. However, the industry stakeholders argued this was not an accurate representation of the online black market. The DOVC, a local trade body, believes that illegal sites account for about 20% of the country’s online gross gaming revenue (GGR).
