A Karlsruhe court in Germany has ruled in favor of the Austrian firm Bwin Interactive Entertainment to continue providing online betting services to the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The decision cam after previous judgment to regionally ban online betting in the state was found to be technically not enforceable.
Had the decision have been implemented, the online betting firm would have been forced to stop accepting wagers from all players in Baden-Wuerttemberg, amounting to several hundred thousand out of 2 million in Germany alone. Being Germany's third largest state, this was for some time seen as the beginning of the end of online betting in Germany all together.
Despite that the judgment was overturned due to only small technicalities that prevented its implementation, the Government is expected to appeal the decision in the administrative courts of Mannheim, Germany. Yet the European Gaming and Betting Association is determined to prevent the European Commission from banning online betting throughout the country's 16 states, and have meanwhile filed a formal complaint against them.
According to the Secretary General of the Association, Sigrid Ligne, "the official claim is consumer protection and we feel that claim is unjustified... We urge the Commission now to fast-track our complaint and launch infringement proceedings against Germany.
"The consumer protection for online betting is based on the European Union principles, and the Association is demanding that they be respected. In the mean time, the court's decision to allow online betting in Baden-Wuerttemberg has given new hope to its residents.
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