Home / Poker News May 2012 / The Poker Grapevine – Germany Awards Licenses
The Poker Grapevine – Germany Awards Licenses
Posted by: Jo Martin - Thu, 2012-05-24 06:31
The race to secure licenses in newly regulated
online poker and online gambling markets is truly on in Europe. The biggest online gambling operators are desperately clinging to their last patch of market share in countries where online gambling is popular and where people are likely to spend money on such activities. Spain is currently considering granting licenses to a bunch of operators. In the meantime, the German state of Schleswig-Holstein has awarded online sports betting licenses to bwin.party (the company that has pretty much dominated the German sports betting market beforehand too) Bet 365, Tipico and bet-at-home. The licenses are valid for 6 years and operators will pay a 20% tax on the gross revenues they generate within the said state.
Bwin.party have also submitted applications for online poker and online casino licenses in the same jurisdiction. Although thus far they haven’t obtained the licenses, they remain optimistic about receiving them in ‘due course’.
According to bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger, Schleswig-Holstein’s regulations represent an important first step towards the creation of a highly competitive and diverse online gambling market in Germany.
Online gambling licenses have already been awarded in the state: Oddset, Mybet and Betfair were the recipients of these licenses.
In other news: the $25k WPT World Championship has certainly created more than a few waves at the Bellagio, but something else stole the headlines on Saturday. Two people wearing black wigs and sunglasses tried to rob a high stakes blackjack table. One of the assailants, who tried to pepper-spray employees was tackled and eventually captured, while the other one managed to get away, with nothing to show for his ‘efforts’ though. The authorities have identified the captured robber as 24-year old Michael Belton. The identity of the other attacker isn’t known or hasn’t yet been made public.
In still other news: the GPI PoY rankings have remained the same at the top over the last week. Junathan Duhamel still leads, followed by Dan Smith and Andrew Badecker.
