Sports Betting Legality Comes Into Question in Germany

Online sports betting has been a thriving industry of the internet, yet its legality in Germany has been thrown in and out of debate for several years.

The debate first began following a court-ruling whereby a sports betting company from Berlin advertised its services in the Auf Schalkea Stadium situated in Gelsenkirchen, who ruled that licensees of Berlin could not advertise in their city. Despite that Gelsenkirchen is part of North Rhine-Westphalia, never before had such limitations been put on what is essentially a German sports betting license.

A similar but more severe case was taken to the European Court of Justice in 2003 regarding the UK and Italy. There, the court ruled that a member state of the EU may not prohibit sports betting or the advertisement of sports betting services if within that state the act is allowed.

A similar case was brought to German courts, whereby an Austrian sports betting company had requested the permission to operate in Germany. The EU ruling had clear influence on the German courts decision, as it ruled that an Austrian license would be sufficient for Germany. It even emphasized that member states should cooperate with one another in the fight against compulsive gambling by accepting licensees from other states, so long as the interests of that state are ‘acceptable’. With many legislations hanging in the balance for a full approval of sports betting in Germany, the legal battles continue to rage.

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