Schleswig-Holstein eyes unified Treaty
Leaders urged not to turn state into "Las Vegas of Germany" as it re-enters negotiations over new interstate Gambling Treaty.
Opposition parties in Schleswig-Holstein have requested its ruling coalition refrain from pushing through legislation that would turn the region into the “Las Vegas of Germany.”
Andreas Beran, gambling policy spokesman for the SDP parliamentary group, made the statement after the CDU/FDP coalition delayed a vote on its egaming law in order to enter negotiations with the other Länder over a new State Gambling Treaty that would be ratified by all 16 German states.
“The aim must be a joint state contract,” added head of fiscal policy for the Green Party, Monika Heinold, in comments reported by German newspaper Kielen Nachrichten. Similar views were expressed by the SSW party.
Schleswig-Holstein had scheduled a vote on its proposal to issue unlimited licences across all product verticals based on a 20% gross profit tax for next Wednesday 24 August. However, ministers decided to delay the vote and head back to the negotiating table after citing “[U]pcoming negotiations with the other states” and the EC’s opinion issued last month against the proposal backed by the other 15 Länder to replace the existing State Gambling Treaty with a restrictive opening for online sports betting.
The northernmost Land’s decision followed a statement last week by Martin Stadelmaier, head of state for Rhineland-Palatinate, one of several Social Democrat-governed Länder in favour of upholding the existing state monopoly on lottery and sports betting under the current Treaty, that they were perfectly prepared to ratify the new draft without Schleswig-Holstein. “We want Schleswig-Holstein on board, but not at any price,” he told Games & Business.
Stadelmaier said a date for the signing of the new Treaty by state leaders had been scheduled for 16 December, and that the Länder would then have until Easter 2012 to ratify this.
Lawyer Henrik Armah from Olswang’s Berlin office told eGaming Review that while the EC’s deadline for the Länder to respond to its complaints ended yesterday (18 August), there was no immediate threat of infringement proceedings. ” The current State Treaty is still in force until December 2011 and hence there still is time for the German States to come up with a newly revised draft which finds the Commission’s approval.”
Betfair and bwin.party, which in April saw a third of its share price wiped off in a week after the German Länder first put forward their proposals for the new Treaty, both declared their intention to apply for licences in Schleswig-Holstein at the earliest opportunity after its draft law gained the requisite approval from the EC in May.
Armah however added: “It would not surprise me if Schleswig-Holstein will no longer pursue its plans of being a ‘liberal island’. They will rather liaise with the other States to come up with a joint proposal.”
Leading gambling data business H2 Gambling Capital has also projected a regulated market in Germany would only capture 7% of total egaming activity in the territory should it proceed with the restrictive opening for sports betting proposed in April.