this is the problem of laws in general. there's almost always room for interpretation. hence casino lobbyists tell you online gaming is illegal, and online lobbyists tell you it's legal. it's also the reason why operators ignored the other treaties so far and based their decision on European law.

the big difference between the previous attempts is, that it's the best "offer" so far. previous treaties ruled out most gaming and the amount of licences was limited.

this time operators seem to obey. maybe there legal experts think the treaty is good enough, that the EU won't mind. maybe they think it's better to get licences, before the casino lobby finds a way to found a proper treaty, that shuts down the market for good.

In the Twitter thread I wrote, which was quoted up-thread, I actually bang on for like 38 tweets (David just pulled out 3 or 4 of the more interesting ones). So if you go back and read that whole thread, there's some more thoughts there, including my take on Winamax.

but TLDR - i think Winamax will be forced out of the German market, I don't see what other move they have. I guess they could stick around between now and July, in case the regulation is not adopted next July. But when it is, I think they will have to bow out.

Good point.



Sorry if already mentioned, but 888 have since clarified (here in their official thread, i believe) that they will not be segregated player pool.



Agree.



The 4 table rule I believe is per operator and specific to poker in these interim rules. However the Treaty requires that operators all register activity in a central database to prevent a player from playing simultaneously across operators. This seems like a total non-starter to me; technically difficult to implement, probably contrary to loads of privacy issues etc.



Yeah like we've seen in other shared player pools, it will be same rake, reduced rewards, to pay for the increase in gambling tax.



Good points.



I think DE would have to sign the shared liquidity agreement signed by FRESPT for it to be feasible.

yeah it makes sense - I did see your tweets, but no formal announcements with less than 7 hours to the regulations come in (Same from Stars unless I didn't see them)

I guess if Winamax think they can't adhere to the new regulatations, then they have no need to stay on good terms with the German government to be considered for a licence, so they may as well ride it out til next July and pull out then. Nine more months of rake from German players and hope the regulation stalls. This is all depending on that they still have some way to process deposits and withdrawals. Ewallets are already problematic in Germany and now Paysafe cards look to have a bleak future.

Generally true, but during the toleration period there is no increase in gambling tax.

Yup my thoughts exactly.

Rip GG poker too?

Gesendet von meinem CLT-L09 mit Tapatalk

"We would first like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support throughout. So it is with a heavy heart that we have to inform you that all Germany based players on Natural8 will be moved to GGPoker with immediate effect.

GGPoker operates on the same network as Natural8; the GGPoker Network (GGPN), and you will still be able to access all the same poker and casino games, tournaments, promotions and features that you have come to enjoy on Natural8.



To get you started, here are a few important things to note

Players who have been migrated from Natural8 to GGPoker will keep the same login details and can use the same email/mobile/password to login to the new GGPoker account.
Fish Buffet points will not be affected during this migration. All players will retain their current fish buffet points and levels after migration.
All balances will be moved from your Natural8 account to your new GGPoker account.
Honeymoon for Newcomers and Leaderboard promotions will remain unaffected after the migration.


Please take note that although Natural8 is under the same network as GGPoker, there are a few unique things about Natural8 that you will no longer be able to have access to once you've moved to GGPoker.

Players who belonged to the VIP Club will no longer be able to participate in the $3,000 Rake Race and the N8 VIP Club Freeroll.
Natural8 Exclusive promotions and tournaments such as the Elemental Tournament Series and Celestial Freerolls will no longer be available
If you have any other questions after switching over, you can get further support by contacting GGPoker via Email, Discord, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Alternatively, you can visit their website at for more information


Thank you for supporting Natural8 all this time, and we hope to meet again soon!



Sincerely,
The Natural8 team"

what?
only 1 Poker client can be played at a time - does that mean: ONLY gg or stars or party and so on?
This is not true, right...

Deposits and withdrawals only via bank account? Neteller is useless or what?

I got an email from PP. The offer 100T$ if I verify my bank account within 24hrs. So I tried but it always fails because the data doesnt match. I got my data of the bank account on one monitor and the party data on another but I cant find the error.

How is this €1,000 limit across all sites supposed to be enforced? From what I understand under European law, they cannot disclose customer info with third parties.

I had the same issue and it was because on my bank account the street name was "Musterstr." and on the confimation from party it was "Musterstrasse"

change that so it matches on the party bank verify and it should work

bye bye onlinepoker in Germany.
Today blackfriday for Germans Onlinepros.

Just got a response from stars that so far it is not planned to have a separate client, but “it is still possible though”.

You can still survive somehow with 4 mtts or 4 zoom tables. But yeah, it sucks.

Playing some MTTs at PP right now, hope I can still do it after 12pm

Alles schon probiert klappt nicht. Muss die Email auch übereinstimmen? Das Geburtsdatum ist bei den persönlichen Details vom Bankkonto auch nicht zu sehen. Dann wohl bye PP.

Email muss nicht übereinstimmen. Dann leider keine Ahnung außer mal beim support anfragen

be able to play at least 4 tables is not a full blackfriday

it's a dark-grey thursday

g ****ing g

"domainbezogenes" ... so basically €1K per operator


yes really weird. privacy concerns were even a reason why (some) payment processors told the states it's not as simple to implement bans in the first place. only a minor detail, but i believe a thing that helped the pro-tolerance states to convonce the Don Quixote-minded folks to "tolreate" ... strange that there's so much unclear.

EDIT [Re: unclear]

related news (GER): https://www.tagesschau.de/investigat...spiel-113.html

last paragraph: States don't have a clue how to enforce or even control the rules (i know, they promise licences and hope operators will behave like they should), but it's quite funny that nothing is organized (e.g. who's checking what operators behave etc).

second to last paragraph: also funny is, that now some public authorities think they are commiting a crime (obstruction of punishment) ...

Can we expect new big company on the market which did not exist before?

the new licences are going to be unlimited so maybe its a good thing and there will be more competition on the market. on the other hand, these licences aren't going to be cheap and operators have to invest even more, e.g. security deposit for client accounts or so probably. but when SH market opened they were lots of TV ads from different online slot casinos and this was only SH. not sure how interesting poker is for these companies though.

i think this is just the begining, i'm afraid new regulations to come; too many gray areas..