Key Takeaways
  • SH votes narrowly to repeal the existing law and join the State Treaty for Online Gaming.
  • It is the last of 16 states to agree to sign the treaty.
  • The 36 existing licenses already issued will not be repealed, and will remain valid for the 6 year period.
  • The German Supreme Court earlier raised concerns over the compatibility of this dual system, and asked the CJEU to rule on suitability.

The German state of Schleswig-Holstein (SH) voted in parliament Thursday in favor of repealing the existing online gambling law in the state and joining the federal gaming treaty.

The decision means that all 16 states have now joined the State Treaty of Gaming, which provides a limited number of licenses for online sports betting, but online poker remains unlicensed and unregulated.

“The Schleswig-Holstein political ghost ride will now come to an end,” SPD parliamentary leader Ralf Stegner said in a press release today following a heated two-hour debate in parliament.

However, the situation now is far from clear.

Just hours prior to the SH vote, the German Federal Court of Justice deferred on its decision to rule on the suitability of its federal gaming treaty. It has requested that the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU) answer questions as to the consistency of its system with EU laws.

The existence of the dual system of both state and federal licenses, the former more liberal than the latter, has raised questions over the “coherency” of the online gambling framework in Germany.

Following today’s parliamentary decision, the licensing process has been frozen and no further licenses in SH will be issued.

But existing licenses already issued will not be repealed, remaining valid for their six-year duration. In total 23 sports betting licenses and 13 online poker licenses have been issued; poker recipients include PokerStars, 888, Ladbrokes and bwin.party.

A spate of licenses in the last week were issued just prior to today’s vote.

Licensees can only offer online gaming to consumers in the state. It is unclear how online poker operators will make use of the licenses in a market with less than 3 million inhabitants.

The new ruling coalition party, which holds a narrow majority in parliament, has repeatedly stated its intention to repeal the law. It considered briefly revoking existing licenses, but later admitted it had no legal grounds to do so.