bwin.party position unaffected by Bavaria decision
Operator insists yesterday's federal court decision to uphold prohibition order against bwin eK joint venture does not impact regulatory position in the country.
Bwin.party has said yesterday’s decision by the Federal Administrative Court in Germany to uphold an earlier prohibition order issued by a Bavarian court against its bwin eK joint venture “has no bearing on the bigger regulatory picture” in the country.
A bwin.party spokesman told eGaming Review: “This decision has no bearing on the bigger regulatory picture. It’s also not the end of the matter, as [bwin eK owner] Pfennigwerth is poised to launch a constitutional challenge to the decision. The proposed revision of the Germany State Gambling Treaty is in our view not compliant with EU law.”
Bwin eK has not accepted customers off the associated bwin.de domain since August 2009, when the administrative court in Ansbach issued a cease and desist order against bwin eK organising, arranging and advertising internet gambling in Bavaria.
Dr Steffen Pfennigwerth, the aforementioned owner of the bwin eK company in which bwin.party holds a 50% stake as a silent partner, said yesterday he would be launching an appeal against the decision as it represented a fundamental violation of his constitutional rights.
The court also yesterday confirmed the validity of bwin eK’s licence issued by the former German Democratic Republic for the territory of Saxony, but only for the company’s land-based betting office.
Highlighting the European Court of Justice’s September 2010 ruling that the existing German gambling monopoly was unconstitutional, the bwin.party spokesman added: “We believe that sensible regulation of the type proposed by Schleswig-Holstein, which has already been approved by the European Commission, is the way forward.”
Analyst Ivor Jones of Numis issued a buy recommendation in the wake of the German court’s decision, stating that: “We believe it will not have a material impact on the business.”