Germany is making a new effort to adopt national sports betting legislation after similar attempts failed in recent years. Earlier this month, the third version of the Interstate Game Treaty was published and the top representatives of the 16 states of the country were invited to act on the piece so that it could be implemented throughout Germany at the beginning of next year.
The leaders of the 16 states will discuss the bill recently presented at a conference specially scheduled for March 21, 2019. If all German states ratify the proposed Interstate Gambling Treaty in its current form, the legislation will come into force on 1 January 2020
In general terms, the Treaty allows online sports betting operators and retailers interested to apply for a license and provide their services to German customers in a regulated environment. An important change in the new version of the legislation is the elimination of a maximum limit of the maximum licenses that will be issued according to the new rules. Previous versions of the Treaty proposed a limit of up to 20 licenses, which was not well received by those interested in the industry and the EU authorities.
In fact, the limit proposed above was what prevented the adoption of the legislation. Its original version was presented in 2012. The Treaty was faced with great discontent and multiple legal challenges, due to the limitations of the license. In 2017, a second version of the piece failed to gain sufficient support among the leaders of the 16 states.
It is expected that this time, the lack of a limit on the number of licenses available will get the support of the legislators.
