New German Gambling State Treaty to Take Effect 1 July

The parliament of Sachsen-Anhalt in Germany has ratified the country’s State Treaty on Gambling Der Glücksspielneuregulierungstaatsverag (GlüNeuRStV), meaning that it can now be implemented from July 1.

The state’s ratification of the Treaty was essential to its implementation as Sachsen-Anhalt is set to host a new regulatory authority in the city of Halle. Work has already begun on setting up the authority and it is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022.

Sachsen-Anhalt became the fifteenth out of sixteen states to approve the Treaty, with just Nordrhein-Westfalen remaining. A minimum of thirteen were required to ratify the legislation, and this happened in March when both Sachsen and Schleswig-Holstein did so. Last week Saarland because the fourteenth.

Deutsche Sportwettenverband (DSWV) president Mathias Dahms welcomed the ratification saying, “This is the beginning of a new age of gaming regulation in Germany. After sports betting, the federal states are now rightly regulating more online gaming in order to finally control market activity.”

The Treaty legalizes online slots and poker for eligible operators and also a small number of table games. It was first approved in March 2020 by Germany’s heads of states, before the European Commission was notified in May and finally it want to Minister-Presidents in the states to be ratified in November. The commission provided a period until September 2020 for the Treaty to be discussed, and since then it has gradually worked its way through the German states.

Once the GlüNeuRStV is implemented, states must adhere to it until 31 December 2028, after which they will have the option to withdraw if they give a year’s notice.

However, while the Treaty is now set to take effect, not all parts of it are popular. It stipulates a 5.3% tax on slots and poker turnover and slots are limited to €1 per spin. Furthermore, the games must average 5 seconds per spin.