The leaders of Germany’s 16 states have reportedly ratified legislation that will update the nation’s official stance on sportsbetting by temporarily legalizing the activity and allowing operators to apply for licenses.

Amendment action:

According to a report, the heads used the latest edition of their Conference of Ministers-President to amend for a third time the State Treaty on Gambling and introduce policies that are to initiate a regulated sportsbetting market.

European Union wait:

The new legislation must still be ratified by the European Commission but is reportedly due to run for 18 months from the first day of next year after which it is scheduled to be replaced by a more comprehensive set of regulations covering multiple forms of gambling. Approval by the European Union’s highest legislative body could purportedly come as soon as next month with license applications being accepted soon after.

Tax terms:

The new measure only covers sportsbetting and will mandate that all authorized operators pay a 5% turnover tax and be forbidden from offering in-play wagering. In addition, it is to prohibit individual bettors from spending more than €1,000 ($1,137) per month but has scratched a previous provision that had limited the nation’s market to only 20 licenses.

Schleswig-Holstein standard:

The northern state of Schleswig-Holstein has reportedly long been a leader in Germany’s iGaming market following the introduction of an official licensing process for a range of verticals in 2011 that sees operators pay a 20% gross revenue tax. The just-amended State Treaty on Gambling is to allow this jurisdiction to keep its current regulatory regime until June 30, 2021, in order to serve as a testing ground for policies that could subsequently be rolled out nationwide.

Player protection:

Schleswig-Holstein parliamentarian Hans-Jorn Arp described the just-amended State Treaty on Gambling as a ‘breakthrough’ move that has seen other German jurisdictions accept his state’s more liberal stance on gambling. The Christian Democratic Union politician further proclaimed that the new legislation will aid efforts to better protect players and could see local sports clubs benefit from the receipt of taxes from sportsbetting.

Arp’s statement reportedly read…

“For Schleswig-Holstein, this is a great success after the state had long met with resistance to its forward-looking solution in the field of gambling. Now the other federal states are pulling in the same direction after finally being convinced that the Schleswig-Holstein model is expedient.”