New German gambling treaty won’t cap betting licenses, possibly allow casino

Germany’s states have reached agreement on a new gambling treaty, scrapping the cap on the number of available licenses and possibly authorizing casino products.

On Friday, the German Prime Minister’s Conference in Warnemünde issued a press release stating that agreement had been reached between the 16 German Länder on the broad strokes of a new State Treaty on Gambling, promising an end to the chaos that has paralyzed Germany’s gambling industry since the previous treaty was approved in 2012.

The release states that the previous treaty’s restriction on issuing no more than 20 sports betting licenses will be scrapped. Licenses will now be awarded based on “minimum quality standards.”

Germany issued 20 sportsbook licenses in September 2014 but court challenges by operators left out in the cold have prevented these licenses from taking effect. Various courts in Germany and at the European Union have slammed the original license application process as fundamentally flawed, leading to widespread calls for a licensing do-over.