Germany: NetXBetting, Oddset and Tipster.de Granted Licenses

The list of licensed sports betting operators in Germany continues to expand as the Regional Council of Darmstadt issued three new approvals for sports betting operations, for NetXBetting, Oddset and Tipster.de.

One Retail-Only, One Online-Only and One Combined

Malta-based NetXBetting, the brand owned by the state lottery Oddset, and Tipster.de joined the group of already approved companies by the sports betting regulator to offer wagering on sporting events.

NetXBetting was granted an online-only license and will operate in Germany via its website Sportwetten.de, while Oddset was approved for retail sports betting only. Tipster.de received license to operate both as a retail and online sports betting provider.

The process of issuing sports betting licenses under the third amendment of the State Treaty on Gambling was preliminary halted in April, after the Darmstadt Administrative Court acted upon a complaint from Austrian operator VierKlee which claimed the licensing process lacked transparency and was discriminatory.

Licensing Process Restored

In October, the licensing process was allowed to continue after a decision by the Higher Administrative Court of Kassel, which declared the Darmstadt Administrative Court ruling invalid after the applicant had withdrawn its application for a preliminary ruling. Several days after the final ruling, the Regional Council of Darmstadt issued the first sports betting licenses.

In the first batch of licenses there were 4 issued to GVC Holdings’ brands, Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, Gamebookers and Bwin, together with Gauselmann’s Malta-based Cashpoint, Bet365, Tipico and Tipwin, among others. In November, the sports betting regulator granted another 3 sports betting operators with licenses, Bet-at-Home, Bet3000 and Intervetten.

All licensed operators need to operate within the constraints of the regulatory framework established in the country where each customer is restricted to €1,000 in terms of wagering limit per month. The monthly cap may be pushed up to €10,000 on case-by-case basis after an affordability check is conducted on the customer. The restriction includes a 1% quota per operator provision for high-value customers willing to undergo a due diligence check and increase their limit even further, to €30,000.

Customers will face limits on their deposits until they pass the verification process, while operators should implement loss limits of 20% of the maximum spend for each customer, and cannot go above €100 per customer in terms of bonuses. There is also a limit on the bets on slot machines of €1 per spin.