From now on, German eSports will be supported by a national association. Can eSports become an actual sport in Germany? Violent games are still causing trouble in that regard.

Germany’s gaming culture was quick to embrace competitive eSports. Many important clubs were actually founded on German soil. Historic organizations such as SK Gaming, Alternate aTTaX or the Electronic Sports League (ESL) have transformed international eSports into this enormous industry that now attracts millions of viewers and sponsors such as Audi or Adidas. With all these important steps, however, one has constantly been omitted. Now, 20 of the biggest German organizations have caught up:

Last month, the eSports-Bund Deutschland (ESBD, or “eSports Association of Germany”) was founded in the city of Frankfurt. The implications are huge, since virtually all the major German teams are aligning themselves with the new association. The responsibilities of the ESBD are numerous, Vice President Niklas Timmermann explains: “Potential examples would be creating models to govern how to set up registered clubs, professional teams, player contracts and so forth, or serving as an arbiter in disputes or when harmonizing sets of rules,” Timmermann says. “Beyond that, probably the most important thing is that this field gets a voice that can politically represent players and teams alike.” 

The Mysterious Monkeys, one of Germany’s top teams, is now part of an eSports federation

Players, teams no longer fending for themselves

The Mysterious Monkeys are one of the teams that have joined forces with the ESBD. The club is being represented by the company ad hoc gaming GmbH and its CEO, Ben Hamana. With the ESBD, he sees a chance to carry eSports right into the center of society. “It is crucial now to organize, to create professional structures and to act in unity. For too long every team had to look after itself on its own, now we can do this with one voice thanks to the association.“

But how, exactly? Hamana explains that officers of the ESBD meet up in a committee to discuss important matters. There, a representative of the teams and players relays their questions and works with them closely on all issues. However, it’s the job of the teams to come together: “The professional teams communicate in various groups about various relevant topics and the essence of this gets brought to the [ESBD] committee.“

For a competitive industry that cannot rely on a long history of joint structures and unified rules, this comes as a refreshing and important step. It ensures that the voices of players and teams alike can be heard. “The association acts for its members and not for any other group or even for its own economic gain,” Hamana asserts.

Even Angela Merkel made her way to the Cologne games expo ‘Gamescom’ this August

A lobby group, even at the Olympic level

But it’s not just the individual matters of the teams that are on the agenda, the ESBD will also promote German eSports on a political level. As a result of the ESBD’s founding, an eSports representative has taking part in a meeting of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) for the first time ever. “The founding of this association is an important and satisfactory step, because now we have a body to turn to discuss this exciting topic,” DOSB President Alfons Hörmann said at last month’s meeting.

eSports hoping for favorable tax status

The prospects of eSports being formally recognized as a “sport” in Germany — with all the legal and tax benefits that can bring — now appear increasingly realistic.

ESBD Vice President Timmermann is optimistic and stresses how important this is for electronic competition: “We want to secure ‘sports’ status for eSports and thereby enable players to access the benefits that come along with it, like public funding, assistance with their travel, and so on. We will work towards this, and hopefully succeed.”

The German government has also sent positive signals this year. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s appearance at Gamescom in August showed that the topic had finally hit German politicians’ radars. However, violent games in particular can cause a lot of trouble in this dialogue, as a recent statement from the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, has shown: “We want to promote non-discrimination, non-violence, and peace among people. This doesn’t match with video games, which are about violence, explosions and killing. And there we have to draw a clear line.“

An inclusion of non-violent games has not been ruled out however, and considering that the Asian Games will include eSports as a part of their 2022 competition, it’s at least conceivable that eSports might be incorporated into the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

So can eSports become a sport in Germany? The scene knows how important a resolution to this question is for both teams and players, although there seems to be no concrete answer in sight. However, the ESBD’s foundation lays the groundwork for more political talks on the matter.

S0urce

18bet has opted to launch a new online gambling website in the German market.

The new platform will feature a selection of sports betting options, in-play sports wagering, live casino games and various other games.

Players in Germany will also benefit from a selection of bonuses and promotional offers tailored to the national market, while all features from the dotcom site will be available to native German speakers.

18bet said that the launch forms part of its broader strategy to cater to specific markets by adapting its offerings, customer support services and content.

Ran Fodor, chief executive of 18bet, said: “Our content marketing strategists, professional design teams, and German consultants have been working hard to provide us with an expert offering in the form of a German version of 18bet.com.

“We have received positive feedback from German sports betting and casino fans, and we look forward to greater personalisation in other markets in the future.”

Lottery monopoly unlawful: In the opinion of the Administrative Court of Munich, the monopoly violates EU law and constitutional law

For the first time, a German court has judged the lottery monopoly claimed by the German states to be unlawful. Thus, the billions in revenues for the 16 German states from the games of chance offered by them are clearly endangered.

The Administrative Court of Munich, in a judgment, reached by the law firm ARENDTS ANWÄLTE, concludes that the German lottery monopoly in its current form violates both the freedom to provide services guaranteed under EU law (Art. 56 et seq TFEU), as well as the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of choice.

In October 2010, the applicant approached the Government of Upper Palatinate, which was responsible for issuing gambling licenses for the organization of lotteries with not only low risk potential, and inquired about the possibility of licensing a number lottery in the Free State of Bavaria. The applicant was then given a “checklist for permission to operate public gambling”. Based on the explanatory notes of the (unpublished) checklist, the applicant submitted a request for permission to hold a number lottery in the Free State of Bavaria. On the basis of the unclear information which the plaintiff received from the Government of Upper Palatinate in response to repeated inquiries about the conditions for obtaining a license, the plaintiff repeatedly amended the permit application. On the instructions of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, the Government of Upper Palatinate justified the refusal by stating that the plaintiff, in the opinion of the authorities, did not meet the requirements of material permission (without mentioning the monopoly).

The plaintiff brought an action before the Administrative Court of Munich against the refusal by the Government of the Upper Palatinate after almost one and a half years of administrative proceedings in 2012. Remarkably, the Government of the Upper Palatinate only at the first oral hearing, and only after repeated inquiries from the Chairwoman Judge, argued with the applicability of the monopoly regulations, which were, according to the Government, compliant with German constitutional law and European Union law.

The Administrative Court of Munich disagreed in its judgment of 25 July 2017. According to the recently served reasoning of the court, the lottery monopoly enshrined in section 10 (2) and (6) of the German Interstate Treaty on Gaming (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag – GlüStV) is unlawful because of the advertising practice of the state gambling operators.

The court relies on several points. For example, the Advertising Guidelines of the German States, which concretizes section 5 (1) to (3) GlüStV with regard to permitted advertising, do not strictly consider the criteria elaborated by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and by the Federal Administrative Court, which must be observed in order to justify a gambling monopoly. The Administrative Court of Munich points out in this regard that section 3 (3) sentence 4 of the Advertising Guidelines explicitly allows image advertising contrary to the requirements of the Federal Administrative Court. Furthermore, according section 5 no. 1 sentence 2 and 3 of the Advertising Directive, gambling can be advertised attractively and the charitable nature of lotteries can be emphasized.

Also, the advertising practice does not meet the requirements of the relevant case law. The Administrative Court of Munich justified this on the basis of numerous advertising examples of the state gambling operators, which were submitted by the applicant in the administrative court procedure. For the systematically operated inadmissible advertising practice of the state gambling operators in the area of ​​number lotteries, the Administrative Court refers to the improper advertising with specifically advertised high jackpot sums in radio and television spots. In addition, unlawful jackpot advertising can be found in newsletters and in customer magazines of the state gambling operators, in social networks, in banner advertising on news sites on the Internet and on the Internet start pages of the state gambling operators.
According to the administrative court, the jackpot advertising of the state gambling operators stimulates the wishes of the citizens for winning money and so far stimulates undecided persons to play along. Often, the promised high profit with a future better life without the compulsion to earn a living by work, were linked to gambling. Thus, with the jackpot advertising not only existing gambling passions were addressed in order to direct them into order, but first time game incentives were created for non-game enthusiasts or a need for gambling in already interested gamblers was increased. In addition, in the opinion of the court, the state gambling operators pursued inadmissible image and sympathy advertising.

Furthermore, the statements made by the state lottery companies about millionaires had an inadmissible incentive to gambling participation, especially if they were linked to the awarding of the winner’s comparatively small stake.

Consequently, the Administrative Court of Munich, in its ruling, comes to the conclusion that the regulations in the advertising guideline and the advertising practice based on it to promote high jackpot profits go well beyond a channelling and steering function of people interested in public gambling. The practice of jackpot advertising would actively and clearly provide incentives to participate in public gambling, number lotteries. Through such advertising practice, the goals of the GlüStV are ultimately no longer met.

Finally, the Administrative Court of Munich rejects a new assignment of the plaintiff’s application on the grounds that the financial capacity of the applicant was not sufficiently established. However, in the “checklist” sent by the Government of Upper Palatinate, it merely requested the submission of a so-called sales concept.

Attorney-at-law Clemens Schmautzer of the law firm ARENDTS ANWÄLTE refers to the economic importance of the no longer tenable lottery monopoly: “The statements of the Administrative Court of Munich are likely to cause panic attacks in the German states, which were, since the fundamental decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 28 March 2006, file no. 1 BvR 1054 / 01, more bad than right trying to continue to secure the proceeds of the lotteries.”

According to attorney-at-law Martin Arendts, the states, and if they do not succeed, then the federal parliament, are called upon to finally create a coherent and consistent gambling regulation: “We definitely need a quantum leap. It was a gross tactical mistake that the state Prime Ministers at the ministerial presidents’ conference on 17 March 2016 only decided on minimally invasive amendments to the existing regulations of the GlüStV in a formulaic compromise. After the sports betting licensing procedure, which was started in 2012, ended in a dead end due to several court decisions (which held the procedure not to be compliant with EU law), the state of Hesse had submitted a draft for the fundamental revision of the gambling system.”