Home / Poker News December 2012 / PokerStars Pick Up Schlesswig-Holstein License
PokerStars Pick Up Schlesswig-Holstein License
Posted by: Randy Williams - Mon, 2012-12-24 05:28
Having secured operating licenses in many of the freshly emerged and newly regulated
online poker markets, PokerStars, the only online poker operator to have earned the right to offer real money cash games and
poker tournaments in all these markets, have taken another major step the other day: they picked up a license granted by the German land of Schlesswig Holstein, thus becoming the first online poker operator to be allowed to offer real money poker games for the German public through the internet.
The significance of the development cannot be overstated, because this way, after gaining access to the newly regulated markets of Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Estonia, France and the Isle of Man, PokerStars have just added the entire country of Germany, one of the largest and certainly, economically most powerful countries in Europe.
According to Guy Templar, head of
PokerStars’ business development, Schlesswig Holstein’s move was one showcasing the understanding of the needs of the German gambling public. Thanks to the legislation passed by the land of Schlesswig Holstein, jobs will be created and the rights of online poker players will be duly protected.
The above said Schlesswig Holstein law was passed in September, 2011 and it allows sites based in the EU to offer real money sports gambling and online poker. Four companies have already picked up sports betting licenses in May 2012: bet-at-home, bwin.party, Tipico and Bet365.
According to Norbert Teufelberger, bwin.party’s CEO, Schlesswig Holstein’s regulatory actions represented but the first step in the establishment of a highly competitive and bustling German online gambling market. Welcoming the passing of the law, he also pointed it out that it was important for the country to keep black market operators off its turf.
