The German Federal State of Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt) has released a list of online gambling operators who have applied for and received a license there in accordance with the Fourth State Treaty on Gambling (Glücksspielstaatsvertrag 2021 – GlüStV 2021). Unfortunately for players in the eastern Bundesländer, the whitelist didn’t include any online casino operators receiving licenses to provide slots or even poker.The whitelist is published in accordance with Section 9 (8) of the GlüStV 2021 and is currently composed of 35 license holders. The 21 page PDF document contains 3 pages with empty lists for Online-Casinospiele (table games) Virtuelle Automatenspiele (slots) and Online-Poker.
No live dealer casino games allowed
Digitally animated online table games will not be included in the new online casinos as they can only be operated by land-based casinos and lottery operators. Online live dealer game streaming has been banned outright, making German online casinos into virtual auto spiele arcades. Among the sports betting operators appearing on the list are Bwin, several Tipico subsidiaries, Bet365, and Cashpoint by the Gauselmann Group (Blueprint). Less familiar names on the whitelist include Ruleo and Chilling Cheetah. The lack of a whitelist that includes casino and poker licensees does not necessarily mean that one won’t be issued in the future. The announcement didn’t include any information on gaming operators that had submitted applications. Also lacking was a blacklist of operators who are not eligible to apply. From 15 October 2020 there has been a policy of transitional tolerance for the interim period until the treaty went into effect in July. The Transitional Regime allows operators to engage with customers in the German market as long as they abide by all regulations set out for licensees. Those who fail to adopt or otherwise breached the new regulations are not likely to be considered for a license.
Slots casinos
Among those guidelines are provisions that prohibit accepting more than €1,000 per month from each player across a brand; no slots can offer free play (demo mode); and auto-play functions must be disabled. For all casino gambling products, responsible gambling tools must be provided including hourly reality checks with a 5 minute cooling off period. Additionally, a panic-button that allows a player to immediately self-exclude from the casino must be in plain site and functional at all times. In other German gambling news…The national gambling regulator, Glücksspielbehörde, will now be headed up by two new executives sharing dual leadership roles – Benjamin Schwanke and Ronald Benter. Schwanke is the former Head of the Hamburg Gambling Authority and a former member of the EU Gambling Expert Group. Benter has worked in the Ministry of the Interior of the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. The Bundesländer led the other states in seeking to regulate and tax online gambling.
Source: German whitelist shows no online casino licensees, IGB, October 8, 2021
