The European Commission has issued a formal rebuke of Germany’s three-year-old federal interstate gambling treaty.
One year ago, Germany awarded 20 federal online sports betting licenses. Legal challenges by rejected applicants, however, have prevented those licenses from taking effect.
The commission pointed to the country’s inability to launch the new regulations in its rebuke and also criticized the country for a lack of transparency during the license application process and questioned the reasoning behind Germany’s decision to restrict licensed operators to sports betting while banning online casino and poker products.
The commission said the new rules failed to reduce the number of gambling sites operating illegally in the country and challenged Germany to demonstrate what successes—if any—it had achieved in reducing the rates of problem gambling and money laundering.
