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22 Jun 2006
The online casinos and sports betting industry has been keeping a close watch on legal developments in Europe following some controversial government decisions in recent months. Over the last year, high courts in Scandinavia and the Netherlands have issued rulings on a range of issues from online casinos advertising to taxation that potentially affect the status of operators of online casinos across the continent.
Recently, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court in Munich continued in the traditional of controversial decision-making in relation to the online gambling industry. A case addressing the increasing number of private online casinos competing with Oddset, a state-run betting enterprise, was the focus of state legislators. Private betting is prohibited under German law; however this does not deter thousands of German gamblers from playing at international online casinos. Several court rulings have sought to curb the popularity of online casinos in Germany.
One topic the Court has decided upon is to tighten up advertising for online casinos in Germany. Gaming firms outside Germany will directly contravene new laws if they attempt to market their products and services to German gaming fans. The court also ruled that a greater awareness of underage gambling and gambling addiction is required and demanded that State betting firm Oddset modify its behavior to “consistently fight betting addiction and to limit the betting urge.” However, the Court was unable to address German players accessing offshore online casinos. For the time being, casino players will continue to gamble without legal repercussion.
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