Sports betting is booming in Germany, even though it is not legal. Now the companies are to be regulated. Can that dampen gambling addiction? The black market should turn white, and gray areas should soon no longer exist. Sports betting and online casino games such as 우리카지노 are to become largely legal in Germany from July 2021. The federal states have agreed on this after years of negotiations. The sports betting providers cheer. “The agreement is good news,” announced Tipico boss Joachim Baca. And it’s by no means as if the industry has nothing else to celebrate. The business has been going well for a long time.

The sports betting industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom. The betting providers, most of which are based in tax havens such as Malta, Isle of Man, or Gibraltar, generate new record sums every year. According to the federal states, the stakes-placed by sports betting providers in Germany almost doubled between 2013 and 2018 from 4.1 billion to 8.1 billion euros. According to Goldmedia, the Germans’ stakes rose to almost 9.3 billion euros for the first time in 2019. Mind you, this high came about in a year in which there were no Olympic Games and no World or European Football Championships. Both are coming this summer. The betting sales should consequently continue to increase.

The sports betting providers refer to licenses acquired in Malta, Gibraltar, or the Isle of Man

Such income is possible because betting is similar to that of competitive sport: it goes faster, higher, further. Tens of thousands of bets in dozens of sports are offered on countless online platforms every day, you can bet on third division football games in Poland, basketball games in Australia, or e-sports video games in South Korea. Predicting a win, a draw, or a defeat, as we know it from Toto tickets, is no longer everything. In so-called live bets, you can today bet during the game which football team will get the next throw-in or which tennis player will win the next set. Applicable betting results can be sold before the end of the sporting event for lower odds. So you can secure profits within seconds.

In Germany, the betting companies are apparently finding more and more customers, as the annually increasing stakes prove. Money and enthusiasm for sports are abundant in this country – but the other framework conditions also seem to be right. Germany has the largest gaming market in Europe. Experts estimate that there are half a million people with problematic or pathological gambling behavior. Virtual slot machine games and online casino games such as roulette are particularly risky. According to the Federal Center for Health Education, however, sports betting also has a relatively high proportion of problematic gambling behavior. An addictive potential that betting providers ultimately capitalize on.

This is by no means legal. Apart from the state offer Oddset, sports betting is still not formally permitted in Germany – but they are largely tolerated by the state. All attempts by the federal states to regulate the black market through licensing procedures have failed, not least because of a ruling by the European Court of Justice. The sports betting providers, however, refer to the licenses they have acquired in Malta, Gibraltar, or Isle of Man, which allow them to offer bets within the European Union. You see yourself in the role of an intermediary in Germany: if you go to Tipico in Germany and place a bet, you officially place it on Malta. With economic success, the influence of the sports betting industry on professional sport also grows. 16 out of 18 Bundesliga clubs have sports betting providers as sponsors. Tipico, for example, has been the official partner of the German Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga since 2018. The company has been the namesake of the Austrian Bundesliga and “platinum partner” of FC Bayern for years. Another big player is Bwin, based in Gibraltar, who has been a shirt sponsor of Real Madrid for many years. At the beginning of 2019, the company entered into a large-scale partnership with the German Football Association (DFB). The fact that almost all betting providers have so far offered illegal casino games on their sites does not seem to bother clubs and officials any further. With the millions of betting providers, they pay horrific transfer fees and high-value player contracts. Or the money goes into your own wallet.