NewswireToday - /newswire/ - London, United Kingdom, 11/23/2007 - Skill games and entertainment portals could provide operators looking to enter the German gaming market with viable opportunities according to leading German gaming lawyer Dr Wulf Hambach of Hambach & Hambach.

Speaking to Bullet Business - organisers of the upcoming Legal Gaming in Europe Summit – about how close Germany is to opening up the gaming market, Dr Hambach commented;
“We are not very close, but close. However it is important to note that due to the inconsistent and patch work like legal gambling system in Germany one can find liberal and or non-regulated gambling sectors such eSkill Games and other eEntertainment niches that do not fall under the scope of monopoly laws.”

Dr Hambach went on to discuss the current situation with the State Gambling Treaty 2008;

“The enforceability of the new State Gambling Treaty 2008 means that it is very hard to predict what will happen in the German market over the next 12 months. With the EC as well as several political groups such as the Liberals opposing this gambling monopoly approach. My guess is that the state monopoly will fight against the private gambling industry in the short-term but will lose the monopoly vs. liberalisation battle in the long-term.

But what of the challenges that need to be overcome to aid the shift to liberalised gaming and gambling legislation? Dr Hambach proposed his own solution, suggesting that the industry should be;
“Working on Legal Gambling Law Systems that are accepted not only by the national (German) courts but also by the EU-authorities. In this regard, an EU cross border learning and working group should be founded with the help and/or integration of existing bodies such as the International Members of Gambling Law”

Dr Hambach will be covering German gaming law at the 2nd annual Legal Gaming in Europe Summit. Hambach will be speaking alongside expert European gaming lawyers, operators and thought leaders. The event has over 50 confirmed companies attending and urgent booking is suggested.

Martin Arendts from German law office Arendts Anwalte also highlighted the recent changes to gaming law in German on his blog site;
“The Administrative Court of Giessen (Verwaltungsgericht Gießen) has reffered two more sports betting cases (interdiction orders against betting shops, tranferring bets to private bookmarks licensed in another EU member state) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) according to Article 234 EC Treaty. Earlier this year, the court already reffered a similar case to the ECJ (Markus Stoß v Wetteraukreis; Case C-316/07). The two new cases have been filed as:

Avalon Service-Online-Dienste GmbH v Wetteraukreis (Case C-409/07) and Olaf Amadeus Wilhelm Happel v Wetteraukreis (Case C-410/07).

Now, seven German sports betting cases are pending before the ECJ (one from Cologne, three each from Stuttgart and Giessen). As the Administrative Courts of Giessen and Stuttgart asked quite similar questions, it is quite likely that the ECJ will join these cases. A decision will probably be announced in two or three years.”

Agency / Source: First Conferences Ltd **

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