High Profile German Gambling Sites Leaving the Market

They all did, with the exception of Schleswig-Holstein. Eventually the rebellious state also returned to the fold and scrapped its own Act, but not before issuing 23 licenses for internet casino operators, valid for 6 years.www.gamingzion.com;

Germany is made up of 16 federal states and every state has its own online legislatures but only one state, Schleswig-Holstein, has regulated and licensed online gambling even though the federal ban on gambling was introduced at the beginning of 2008 (with the exception of horse racing). Several states tried to legalize the activity but unfortunately the plans for the legalization have failed. In 2012, the Interstate Treaty strictly banned online gambling, and all the states ratified it except for one.

According to casino.org several casinos, which operated using Playtech software, including Casino.com, Mansioncasino.com, LesAcasino.com, Club777.com and SlotsHeaven.com announced that they will be leaving German Internet market. In line with that decision, they will be blocking new players from Germany from joining their sites. This will only affect German players whilst the German-speaking players from other countries won’t be affected by the casinos' decision to leave.

The European Court of Justice stated last year that even though Schleswig-Holstein regulated online gambling, the other states don’t have to do the same thing and offer the same kind of licenses. It is hard to understand the German Gambling laws but it is certainly very stressful for the casino sites because Germany has two or more sets of gambling regulations. This makes offering online services there a very difficult ordeal.

It is possible that casinos decided to leave after the online gambling case that happened last month. The German online casino player was prosecuted and fined by the court in Munich for playing blackjack on a site not licensed in Germany. He was ordered to pay a fine of €2,100 and his winnings were confiscated. The defendant stated that he didn’t realize he was breaking the law believing that online gambling was legal in Germany because of the sponsorship marketing deals with German Celebrities. The court rejected his argument claiming that he checked the box on the site's “Terms of Conditions” which advise players to check legal status in their countries.

Even though Germany has strict control, the gambling is very popular among its residents; unfortunately, it seems that Germans won’t be seeing the online gambling legalized anytime soon.