Germany is expanding the number of licenses available for slot machine operators from three to five. SlotMagie and Merkur are entering the German market after Mernov, which has been renamed to Deutsche Gesellschaft für Glücksspiel (DGGS), Tipwin and Mybet.
Two Additional Slot Machine Licensees
Malta-based The Mill Adventure, which operates the website SlotMagie, is the fourth licensee being allowed to offer slot games online in Germany. Just four months ago the company also entered the Netherlands market. The fifth license for Germany went to Merkur for its three gambling websites Xtip, Merkur Sports and Merkur Spiel.
The previous three licenses were not granted that long ago. DGGS received its slot machine license in May, while Tipwin and Mybet got theirs in June. It is expected that nine more operators are going to get licenses for slot machines or poker games before the end of the year.
No license for poker games has been granted yet as no operator has applied for one so far. Gambling operators are reluctant probably due to the stringent rules in Germany’s State Treaty on Gambling that came into force on July 1, 2021. The legislation has put a cap of €1($1) on the stake that one can wager per slot machine spin and a monthly wagering limit of €1000 ($1027).
On top of that operators have to pay а tax of 5.3% on the stakes for online poker and slot games. This of course considerably limits the revenue opportunities for all gambling operators that want to enter the market. The gambling sector representative body Deutsche Sportwettenverband (DSWV) and a number of operators have opposed these rules stating that making it so difficult to operate means that fewer providers will venture to enter the market.
The Fresh German Online Gambling Market
The German legal online gambling market is relatively new. On July 1, 2021, the country launched its legalized online gambling market allowing slot games and poker. Before the new State Treaty on Gambling came into force, gamblers could only enjoy sports betting online.
One year later, on July 1, 2022, the regulator Saxony-Anhalt State Administration Office was replaced by a new body called die Glücksspielbehörde (GGL), which is now responsible for licensing and regulating the gambling market in Germany.
The new regulator’s top priority, however, is to deal with illegal gambling. It is already cracking down on gambling operators that do business without a license with Lottoland being one of the first offenders to get payment and IP blocks.
