European Commission Approves New eGaming Bill

The Northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein had its draft gambling bill approved by the European Commission to be in accordance with EU laws, in a move that is welcomed by many in the online gambling industry and will ensure residents in the northern state will enjoy legalized and regulated online gambling market.

The draft bill from Schleswig-Holstein state uses very pragmatic guidelines by imposing a 20% gross profit tax, offering an unlimited number of licenses across all types of gambling products and forces the implementation of strict player protection consumer guidelines.

This bill is a welcomed change to the bill introduced in mid April by 15 other German states that supported a sports betting bill with unworkable turnover tax of 16.66% and a five-year "test period" for the seven sports books that will be granted a license.

The approval from the European Commission has given the German state the green light they required before passing the draft bill into law. It is predicted that it will do so this summer and the process of issuing licenses should commence in the upcoming autumn.

However prior to final approval the legislators in Schleswig-Holstein will need to address one point that the European Commission found problematic with regards to the current stipulation that only major banks working with the operators will be required to provide guarantees but not smaller or private financial institutions.

Once the legislators in the German state will amend the clause that is causing the problem there will be nothing stopping it from becoming law.

The news was welcomed by many operators such as Betfair and bwin.party stated that they are sure to apply for a license once the law is in place and it is a clear signal to other German states and other countries within the European Union as to the type of legislation that will be acceptable to the European Commission.

The recent bill can also start a "domino effect" in Germany with the remaining 15 states following in the footsteps of Schleswig-Holstein but is sure to cement a situation where each state is responsible for its own online gaming legislation and can create a situation where in some states online gambling is legal and fully licensed and in others it will not be legal and online gambling services will continue to be provided by unregulated offshore operators with little recourse to local residents.