German sports betting licence delays

The already contentious issue of who gets the miserly 20 online sports betting licenses from the German authorities appears to be going from bad to worse, with the latest reports indicating that those operators waiting impatiently to be given the nod may have even longer to hang about.

The issue has been dragging on ever since the 16 German provinces combined in a new and exclusive gaming treaty that has the European Commission asking questions.

Back in May this year the information site Legal Updates reported on early signs that the 149 applicants for German sports betting licenses were not being treated in an even handed way by the German officials in the Hesse province tasked with deciding which companies would be licensed.

Brian K. Trembath, an expert on the issue, reported that in March this year the Hessian officials invited only ten of the applicant firms to participate in preliminary proceedings by discussing their plans for Germany.

When the other applicants heard about this exclusive and apparently cozy arrangement, they were understandably dismayed, and led by BetVictor they launched a legal enquiry into the rectitude of the official process.

That ended up in a Hessian administrative court which rightly found that the procedure was irregular, and that it made little sense to require companies that had been put through licensing hoops in the Schleswig Holstein province under a previous arrangement made little sense.

The Hessian officials were directed to involve all applicants in the process or return the project to the drawing board.

The subsequent delays had observers predicting that the licensing process would run into 2014, and the latest reports appear to confirm that, with 41 applicants left in the queue, and difficulties apparent in their ability to meet the German requirements

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