Dr. Wulf Hambach of Hamach & Hambach spoke last week on the prospect of Germany opening its market for online gambling. The Dr. addressed Bullet Business, which will be hosting the Legal Gaming in Europe Summit, and said that Germany is being pressured by the European Commission and that online gambling might become an option in central Europe. However, before that can happen there's much work to be done. Current laws in Germany contain many loopholes that would have to be patched before a proper regulation system for the online casino industry can be implemented.
"The enforceability of the new State Gambling Treaty 2008 means that it is hard to predict what will happen in the German market over the next 12 months," said Dr. Hambach. "With the EC and several political groups such as the Liberals opposing the gambling monopoly approach, my guess is that the state monopoly will continue to fight against the private gambling industry in the short-term but will lose the monopoly vs. liberalization battle in the long-term," he added. Dr. Hambach is considered an expert in law and his words carry a lot of weight in both business and legal circles in Europe. The upcoming summit will hopefully shed some light on the issue and help us understand how the German online casino future will look like
The European Commission is pressing countries in Europe to open their markets for free competition. The entire European Union is supposed to become a free-trade zone and states which operate monopolies aren't helping. Currently, the state monopoly in Germany controls the entire gambling market and it prevents firms from other countries from offering gambling services to German citizens. Hopefully, the pressure will incite change and online casino gambling firms will be able to operate in the German local gambling market.
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