ENCOURAGING NEWS FROM GERMANY

27 April 2007

Keep the lottery monopoly, but liberalise sports betting the new approach?

The Gaming Intelligence Group reports positive political developments regarding restrictions on sports gambling in Germany could be emanating from a meeting in Stuttgart last week between budget and financial speakers of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union. Apparently an agreement was forged to propose abolishing the state monopoly on sports betting, but to allow the lottery market to continue unchanged under the terms of the 2004 State Treaty.

Part of the agreement is that the terms of a liberalised sports betting market are to be drawn up in a separate State Treaty.

GIG says the Union's fiscal policymakers believe that the liberalisation of sports betting should be accompanied by the levying of a special incentive tax. This is to be ring-fenced on the basis of the player's place of abode in order to assure the federal states a source of revenue from sports betting. This will provide continued funding for mass sport, charities, culture and addiction prevention measures.

"We expressly welcome the Union's decision," declared Rainer Jacken, Director of betting company Fluxx AG. "It shows that common sense and economic realism are increasingly gaining ground in connection with the planned State Treaty on gaming. We believe court rulings and political opinions are coming to acknowledge the grave concerns already voiced by the EU Commission.”

“Nobody now wants to be made responsible for a sharp but unnecessary slump in revenue and the impending legal chaos in both Germany and Europe. We citizens are called to abide by the law, and quite rightly so. We should therefore be able to expect our politicians to do likewise. This wise resolution by the Union parties' fiscal policy spokespersons now means that the German gaming market can be reorganised in an intelligent manner."

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