The highest German court, the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), has suspended legal proceedings against a German sports betting operator for the reimbursement of stakes, in favour of a reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Subject to the proceedings are gaming activities conducted between 2013 and 2018, for which the player requests a full reimbursement of all losses incurred - with the argument that the betting operator did not hold a German sports betting license, at that time.

In fact, German authorities were not able to issue gaming licenses during that period, due to concerns that the German licensing regime would violate EU laws, especially the freedom to provide services, one of the basic principles of the European Treaties. This view has been confirmed to be accurate by the ECJ, i.a. in the 2016 landmark judgement in the “Ince”-case (C-336/14).

The German sports betting market has seen uncounted similar legal proceedings at courts of every instance in the last years, commonly referred to as “German player claims”.

In the present case, the BGH has referred questions pertaining to the applicability of certain provisions of the German laws, due to conflicts with EU legislation.

Dr Ronald Reichert, lead lawyer for the betting operator in the present case, stated towards games & business: “The ECJ basically said it all back in 2016 in the Ince case: because the licensing procedure was carried out in breach of EU law and the sports betting operators were therefore unable to obtain licenses, the lack of the license may not be held against them”. Also Matthias Dahms, head of the industry association Deutscher Sportwettenverband (DSVW) states: “We are confident that the ECJ will rule in favour of the providers and the European freedom to provide services, as it has already done in the past.”

Actually, the expected ruling in favour of the European market freedoms by the ECJ stands in a long line of steady rulings since the 2000’s.

Want to hear more about the latest developments on the German market, how political developments impact on compliance requirement and how to handle the challenges of multi-jurisdictional operations in a fast-pace regulatory environment? Speak to Nikolas Lotz (nikolas@chevron.group) and Thees Buschmann (thees@chevron.group) from Chevron Group. Follow us on LinkedIn for more industry related news.

Quelle: Chevron Consultants