Germany's Anti-Online Poker Gambling Law Approved by 15 of 16 States - Page 3 - Poker News Headlines

kikadell · 07-18-2012, 06:07 AM

So if this one German state changes its mind, Germany is gone? Fml

knircky · 07-18-2012, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikadell

So if this one German state changes its mind, Germany is gone? Fml

Huh? What are u talking bout?

Poker is illegal but no site cares....... That's how it is.

NerdSuperfly · 07-19-2012, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kikadell

So if this one German state changes its mind, Germany is gone? Fml

to be honest, i'm not up-to-date. But i doubt schleswig-holstein can back out of the law ("regulated and open market") and they already handed out some licenses.
They had elections. The former leading party is now opposition and the new cabinet wants to join the other 15 states. but IMO they can't pay the firms (kinda like 'payment of damages'), plus the state needs the money.

on july 1st the other 15 states passed the new 'glucksspiel staatsvertrag' ("state monopoly on gambling") but th European Union admonished it in the forefront (it's the 2nd staatsvertrag btw, the 1st one was also not EU-approved).

like i said, i'm not up to date, but i think right now this is the situation quo:

Quote:

Originally Posted by knircky

Poker is illegal but no site cares.

in the worst case there can be a BF scenario, but i don't think it will happen. it's a long way, but i think there will be a regulated market.

NerdSuperfly · 07-25-2012, 06:04 AM

bummer ... so much about my #theory' that schleswig-holstein can't back out ... they announced that they 'll join the other 15 states :-(

Paganscum · 07-26-2012, 11:35 PM

Germany has a huge population. Would be a terrible for online poker in the long run if they ban german players from major poker sites. Kinda like the thing with italy. Oh I miss italians

maverickf1 · 08-03-2012, 01:40 AM

Its a ****ing joke like, what is the reasoning for this?

egoismforever · 08-03-2012, 03:36 AM

It's a good thing then that Pokerstars did transfer the german players from pokerstars.com to pokerstars.eu a couple of weeks ago.

captain_redneck · 09-06-2012, 11:24 PM

I guess you have a suck ass government over there in Germany also huh. That is just a bunch of BS...hopefully it will get overturned!

NerdSuperfly · 09-10-2012, 02:04 AM

semi informative update

schleswig-holstein (state) handed out new licenses (no poker yet, just sports betting imo) but the new government still wants to pull out of the system ('cancel' the new law) and join the other 15 states.

the "glücksspiel staatsvertrag" (gambling treaty) also was used the 1st (???) time. a football club from berlin (hertha bsc) is getting sued because they have a sponsoring contract with clicbet (sportbetting company from austria with licenses in schleswig holstein and malta (or cyprus)). the club and clicbet both say that this is stupid, isn't fair yada yada ...

And there still problems with the new gambling treaty since the EU says this whole thing is against eu laws (e.g. to few licenses)

NerdSuperfly · 10-04-2012, 10:42 AM

Quote:

In advance of the expected but delayed EU Commission Communication and Action Plan on online gaming, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has filed a complaint alleging that Germany’s online gaming regime is illegal: ...

more at: http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-re...-eu-law-04-10/

dullname · 12-30-2012, 01:41 PM

I used to live in germany and loved it! one reason was the fact that they seemed to have a little more reasonable thinking when considering these issues. Sad to see this happenning.

EllaMc · 01-09-2013, 07:26 AM

Just saw this posted today (9 January 2013) regarding Germany and specifically Schleswig-Holstein. Looks like you're good for about 6 years despite this "change" -- By Jocelyn Wood
JANUARY 09, 2013
pokerfu.se/wnnx

Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein set to Join Anti-Online Poker Gaming Treaty: EU gives the green light for the last remaining German state to join the restrictive gaming treaty, despite having already issued dozens of State licenses.

http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-re...-treaty-09-01/

**Louis Cyphre** · 01-09-2013, 11:32 AM

Your links don't work

EllaMc · 01-09-2013, 12:27 PM

Sorry about those links... Interestingly, the whole story has changed since this morning. Or let's just say "the emphasis" has changed. The story remains mostly the same with a lot less sensationalism.

The title and full text have completely changed but it's the same story - apparently it caught a lot of people's consternation.

Here's the new proper link: http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-re...-german-state/

and for comparison's sake this morning's title:

Quote:

Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein set to Join Anti-Online Poker Gaming Treaty: EU gives the green light for the last remaining German state to join the restrictive gaming treaty, despite having already issued dozens of State licenses.

By Jocelyn Wood
JANUARY 09, 2013
pokerfu.se/wnnx

And I happened to have kept a copy of the original article for a friend for comparison I now offer to you:

Spoiler:

Schleswig-Holstein (SH) will join the German Interstate Gambling Treaty following an EU Commission opinion that it can legally do so.

According to Casino Choice, The EC gave the Schleswig-Holstein the green light this week, though did not make public how its previous concerns were addressed. It is the last German state to sign up to the treaty and is expected to enforce its provisions from March 7.

SH already has its own gambling regulation, approved by the EU Commission as being in line with EU law and treaties. 27 licenses for online sports betting, casino and poker have been issued, and many more applications are pending.

The federal gaming treaty that it seeks to join, however, permits only 20 online sports betting licenses.

Recent elections brought to power a coalition government that opposes the previous government’s new gaming policies. They have unsuccessfully sought to block license applications under the current law and committed to joining the rest of the German states in applying the Interstate Treaty.

Unable to block the existing law halt the process, SH has awarded, and will continue to process, gaming licenses that are valid for six years. 12 licenses for online casinos and poker and 15 for sports betting have been awarded, with PokerStars, 888, and bwin.party among the recipients.

SH is bound by its existing law to honor these agreements, and until the Interstate Treaty comes into force, must continue to process license applications. 18 casino applications and 24 for sports betting remain pending.

Germany will have two concurrent sets of gaming laws. A case is progressing through the German Supreme Court which will rule whether this state of affairs is constitutionally legal. Meanwhile, the licensed providers in SH are restricted to offering services to SH residents.

The EU Action Plan on Online Gambling set up an expert committee to examine national gaming regulations which is due to report back in two years’ time.

The original SH regulatory framework met with the EU Commission’s approval, but the Interstate Treaty has not. The Commission has been critical of the treaty and has proposed amendments to bring it into line with EU law.

The European Gaming and Betting Organisation (EGBA), which lobbies on behalf of many of the major online poker providers, has formally complained to the EU Commission about the German Interstate Treaty.

General Secretary Sigrid Ligné vehemently condemns the treaty and urges the EU to take action quickly, noting that the German treaty has “many provisions which are in conflict with EU law” warns that such protections “... effectively slam the door in the face of EU operators from other member states …. extend[ing] the monopoly for offline to online games.”

Hood · 01-09-2013, 01:11 PM

The article we published today has been removed, as it was erroneous. The EU deadline has passed, but the conclusion that therefore a greenlight has implicitly been given is incorrect.

So the article was pulled. Previous articles however have not been altered and to the best of our knowledge, are correct. So it's not that anything has been altered; they are just two separate articles. One was written a month ago. In your 'spoiler', paragraph 1 and 2 are inaccurate. The rest is factually correct, but with no reason remaining to have the article in the first place we thought it best to remove it entirely.

Hope that clears things up.