Online casino does not receive German license - and sues

An online casino based in Malta has applied for a license to operate online casino games in Schleswig-Holstein. The authorities rejected the application after a detailed examination, as the online casino had already proven to be unreliable in the recent past. The operator was not satisfied with this and took the matter to court - without success.

The unnamed online gambling provider initially brought an action before the competent administrative court. In this context, an application was made to restore the suspensive effect of the action by way of interim legal protection. However, this application was rejected by the administrative court. The Malta-based online casino then lodged an appeal with the Higher Administrative Court in Schleswig-Holstein.

OVG: Prospects of success of the action are low

The Higher Administrative Court of Schleswig-Holstein made its decision as part of a summary review. This means that the court weighed up the prospects of success of the action and examined in parallel whether there were convincing arguments for provisionally suspending the official decision. In this specific case, the OVG came to the conclusion that the prospects of success were low, meaning that the online casino's appeal was unsuccessful in the second instance.

At present, only five gambling companies have a license for online casino games in Germany:

• Cashpoint Malta Ltd (merkur-spiel.de)
• Novoline.de GmbH (casino.novoline.de)
• Skill On Net Ltd (drueckglueck.de/casino)
• State Lottery and Casino Administration (spielbanken-bayern-online.de)
• Tipico Karlsruhe Ltd (casino.tipico.de / casino.goldrummel.de)

Current whitelist of the German gambling authority!

Why was the online casino not granted a license to operate online casino games?

First of all, it should be made clear that the online casino applied to the competent authority in Schleswig-Holstein for a license specifically for the operation of online casino games (blackjack, roulette) and not for online slots. The licensing of online casino games is not the responsibility of the Joint Gaming Authority of the federal states (Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder - GGL), but of the respective federal state. In Schleswig-Holstein, however, the online casino's application was rejected on the grounds that the provider had already proven to be unreliable in the past.

More specifically, the applicant had already violated the following player protection regulations in the past:

• Minimum playing time of five seconds was undercut
• Maximum stake of 1 euro per game was exceeded
• Autoplay feature was offered without permission
• Deposit limit of 1,000 euros per player per month was not adhered to

Although the authorities had already banned the provider from offering illegal services on several occasions over the past two years, the provider had simply continued to operate for many months. The authority thus came to the conclusion that the online casino had proven to be "unreliable".

However, in order to be granted a license under the Interstate Treaty on Gambling (GlüStV), the applicant must be deemed "reliable". This means that it must fully comply with legal requirements.

The plaintiff online casino argued in court that it acknowledged its past misconduct and had since changed its behavior. Now, it will fully comply with the legal requirements. According to the court, however, this insight came too late, especially as the violations were "systematic, serious and took place over a long period of time". For this reason, it was right for the competent authority to deny the online casino a license to operate online casino games.

Conclusion

Anyone who does not adhere to the rules of the game will not be granted a license. In this case, the online casino has shown that it trampled on German player protection regulations over a longer period of time and therefore, according to the court, was rightly denied a license to operate online casino games. The question now naturally arises as to how long the operator must wait before proving itself to be "reliable" again and subsequently being able to apply for a license again at a second attempt. The court has not yet answered this question.

Source of the image: https://pixabay.com/de/illustrations/richter-klage-frau-amerikanisch-3678152/