German court suspends sportsbetting licence awards

As was expected, numerous legal challenges have seen the Wiesbaden Administrative Court provisionally suspend the issuing of sports betting licences by the Hesse Ministry of the Interior and Sport (see previous reports).

The decision follows an application for a summary process filed by at least a dozen rejected applicants, a court spokesperson said. Those reportedly include Tipico, Bet365, BetClic, Victor Chandler, Sportingbet and Stanleybet.

The process to award the concessions has taken two long years and the Ministry has been criticised on the lack of transparency during the selection process.

According to the Wiesbaden Administrative Court, the Hesse Ministry of the Interior and Sport has only submitted two sets of overview documents and is seemingly reluctant to furnish further documentation.

“The rejection letters and the attached application do not form a clear understanding in terms of justifying why individual tasks were judged to be ‘below average'”, the court said.

The case will be heard before the Supreme Administrative Court who will test the legality of the selection process and ultimate awards.

Jan Bolz, chief executive officer of Tipico, commenting on the suspension said: “We welcome the decision of the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden to stop issuing licenses for the time being and see it as a confirmation of our fundamental objections to the entire procurement process.”

It is believed the Hesse Ministry of the Interior and Sport has filed an appeal against the decision.