One German state goes it alone for online casino gambling

The focus of our general casino news section switches to Germany where confusion reigns about the legality of online casino gambling. Only last year the 16 states of Germany were told by the ECJ (European Courts of Justice) that their monopoly on gambling contravened the laws so in response they agreed to keep the state lottery supposedly to prevent gambling addiction but could not agree on how to free up the legislation surrounding online casinos and online sports gambling. Some states started to draft legislation that would allow a small of operators licenses to operate for a limited period which was also subsequently criticised by the ECJ as not meeting the freedom rules but now general casino news at casinos.ie has learned that one state namely Schleswig-Holstein which is located in the North of the country is proposing to allow any number of operators to apply for a license from March next year. This is interesting as general casino news believes that the other states have agreed to offer only seven license for a period of five years from January 2012 and it might seem difficult to stop an online casino operator licensed in one state of Germany from offering services all across the country. However it is also noticed that the introduction date of March is a full three months after the other states suggesting that there might be some negotiation to be done between the states. If any legislation is passed the big winner is likely to be Bwin/ Party casino who are well known in the country. Online casinos in Germany along with online sports gambling is for the most part illegal at the moment although general casino news does not believe that this stops interested parties from finding an online casino site that will provide a service somewhere in Europe..