GVC Airs Black Market Concerns About New Gaming Legislation in Germany

Gaming industry leader GVC has issued an early warning about the new gambling law in Germany, which is scheduled to be implemented in July 2021. The new legislation would allow the entry of any number of sports betting providers, virtual slot machines and online poker games. The law will also permit a a limited number of online casino game providers too.

This law results from an agreement signed between federal states, which gives the individual states the power to define the limits on their discretion on many aspects such as the design of gambling products and gambling advertisement.

The law advocates many restrictions too, some of which are the following:

• A ban of live streaming on betting sites.
• No commercial advertising on radio and internet for virtual slot machines, online poker and casino games between 6am and 9pm.
• A one-minute delay for customers when they switch between different games on the same internet domain, such as from sports betting to virtual slot machines.
• A five-minute delay when switching between different gambling sites.
• A €1 stake limit on virtual slot machines.
• In-play sports betting limited to the final score and associated markets..

GVC warns that the provisions in the legislation are inadequate to protect the players’ interests.  They might end up achieving a wholly unfulfilling gaming experience for users, the company suggests.

GVC’s main concern is that this legislation will render licensed products less attractive and less competitive than the unlicensed counterparts. This could result in a huge risk where customers will be attracted to the black market.

As per the new law, the 16 German states can prohibit or allow online casino table games, for example, and impose their own restrictions. According to GVC, this will create an unequal playing field that is in contrast with the EU law.

There is, therefore, a huge risk that customers will move to the black market, where there is zero responsibility, zero protection and zero tax being paid.

The new law requires sharing of player’s personal data between operators and authorities so as to prevent parallel play across providers. This could develop as a breach of EU’s data protection fundamental rights.